John 14-17 April 9, 2013 - Nancy Baird

Quotes For John 14-17
Nancy Baird

Spring is a happiness so beautiful,
so unique,
so unexpected
that I don't know what to do
with my heart.

Emily Dickinson

"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime."           

                           Martin Luther

"The Spirit of God, speaking to the spirit of man, has power to impart truth with greater effect and understanding than the truth can be imparted by personal contact, even with Heavenly Beings.  Through the Holy Ghost, the truth is woven into the very fiber and sinews of the body so that it cannot be forgotten." 

Joseph Fielding Smith, quoted by Dallin Oaks, at the Mission Presidents seminar, 2001.

"God has given us a whole sea of his word." 
                         Martin Luther

"The sea grows always greater, nobody can paint it."
            The painter, Tintoretto

"The things of God are of deep import, and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.  Thy mind, O Man [and we made add O Woman as well], if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost Heavens, and search into and contemplate the lowest...abyss."    

Joseph Smith, from Liberty Jail, after being there five months.  In John Welch, BYU Studies, vol. 50, #3, 64-66.

"The Christian ethics is the ethics of inexpressible joy."  
            Theodor von Haering, 1909.  Interpreter's Bible, 720.
                "The mind is its own place, and in itself
                Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven."
                    John Milton,   Paradise Lost, Book I,II, 254-55
           
                "Which way I fly is hell; myself am Hell."
                            Book IV, I, 69.

"Blessedness is not something added to goodness.  It is goodness."
                Spinoza, (1600's) Ethics.

                             

John 14-17 - Nancy Baird - April 9, 2013(Audio)

Daily Thought

Daily Thought

Five Principles of Gospel Learning

  President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles teaches five basic principles that should guide Latter-day Saints in their pursuit of gospel knowledge.

1. Vital instruction is not hidden, but repeated. “Instruction vital to our salvation is not hidden in an obscure verse or phrase in the scriptures. To the contrary, essential truths are repeated over and over again.”
2. Knowledge should be balanced. “Every verse, whether oft-quoted or obscure, must be measured against other verses. There are complementary and tempering teachings in the scriptures which bring a balanced knowledge of truth.”
3. The Lord is consistent. “There is a consistency in what the Lord says and what He does, that is evident in all creation. Nature can teach valuable lessons about spiritual and doctrinal matters. The Lord drew lessons from flowers and foxes, from seeds and salt, and sparrows and sunsets.”
4. The scriptures sustain each other. “Not all that God has said is in the Bible. Other scriptures—the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price—have equal validity, and they sustain one another.”
5. The Holy Ghost can make things plain. “While much must be taken on faith alone, there is individual revelation through which we may know the truth. ‘There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding’ (Job 32:8). What may be obscure in the scriptures can be made plain through the gift of the Holy Ghost. We can have as full an understanding of spiritual things as we are willing to earn.”

 

Avoid Deception
 President Packer also adds this caution: “There is an adversary who has his own channels of spiritual communication. He confuses the careless and prompts those who serve him to devise deceptive, counterfeit doctrine, carefully contrived to appear genuine.

“I mention this because now, as always, there are self-appointed spokesmen who scoff at what we believe and misrepresent what we teach.”

Learn from His Friends

President Packer also shares this experience: “As a young seminary teacher, I learned a valuable lesson from our principal, Able S. Rich. He told me, ‘If you really want to know what a man is, and what he believes, do not go to his enemies. Go to the man himself or to his friends. He does not confide the thoughts of his heart to his enemies. His friends know him best; they know his strengths and his weaknesses. They will represent him fairly. His enemies will misrepresent him.’”

Learn from Doctrine

President Packer also promises Latter-day Saints that if they will remain faithful they will continue to learn.

“As a grandfather who has lived a long time,” he says, “I counsel you to have faith. Things have a way of working out. Stay close to the Church. Keep your children close to the Church.

“In Alma’s day ‘the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it … had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God’ (Alma 31:5).

“True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”