The Book of Romans

Romans has always been one of my favorite books in the New Testament. In fact I chose to take the second half of the New Testament because I always really thought Paul was kind of an amazing apostle. While I am very grateful for the accounts of the life of Christ put before us in the Gospels, Paul gives a powerful testimony of the mission of Christ here on earth. He reminds us of how there is no possible way for us to make it to the Celestial Kingdom in our state. No matter how close to perfect we may feel that we are today, we have, in fact, sinned and this simple statement leaves us unclean and unfit for the Kingdom of God. So how can we receive glory? Christ has laid down His life for us. He has sacrifices everything for us so that we may feel the eternal bliss that none of us are even close to deserving. How to we take advantage of this blessing? We keep the commandments and when we didn’t we repent. That’s it. Paul addresses that there is hardly a righteous man out there who would lay down his life for a righteous man and Christ has done it for every despicable person that ever lived, and all he asks is that we take advantage of the Atonement. What an example of a perfect sacrifice. Every time that I am reminded of this incredible love that He had for us I yearn for some way to repay Him. I love the book of Romans because on days when I feel despicable and unworthy for any blessing I am reminded that there is absolutely nothing that I could have done that would make Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ not love me anymore. Whether we feel unfit for love because we do not take advantage of the scriptures like we should or because we’ve committed some unspeakable crime, Christ still loves us and will still enable us to repent of our sins. The main response I have to Romans is just a strong desire to echo the words of Paul. To acknowledge the intense love and healing power that can be felt by the atonement. When we take advantage of the atonement we can truly “carpe diem” seize the day and realize that this day, this hour, this moment is the time to start being better than the last moment, the last hour or the last day because when we have repented, those things don’t matter anymore. There will, of course, be consequences, but they cannot stop us from our renewed path that will bring us to the Kingdom of God. While this may be something we don’t understand we can remember that this is a gift. A very special gift given to us by a real man. A man who most of us have not seen in this life, but is just as real and just as living as any man sitting next to you. I wish I could be more but eternally grateful for the opportunity to live again with my Heavenly Father.

1 Corinthians 13: Faith, Hope, and Charity

Paul starts to address the importance of faith, hope and charity in 1 Corinthians 13 saying “Charity never faileth” (v. 8). He also discusses how you can have all the faith in the world but if that faith is not back up with charity it is useless to you. When I think of charity I think of how it is often called the “pure love of Christ”. Charity seems to be something that pushes you to do more. Charity causes you to look beyond yourself and consider what you can do to help other people around us. As I have been reflecting on my life I have realized how difficult it is to incorporate such a value into our everyday lives. I feel like it is far easier to wake up every morning and go to my classes, do my studying, watch some Olympics, check my Facebook, read my scriptures, say my prayers, sleep and repeat. My mind almost goes on a form of autopilot as I distract myself with Sudoku in the same classes, talk to the same people, and sit in the same seat in the bus. How hard would it be to start expressing the love I have for others at least a little bit everyday? Probably far easier than I’d like to admit. Thinking of charity as the pure love of Christ I have tried to realize how Christ lets me know that He loves me. When I feel an outpouring of the Spirit I can feel His love. When I notice blessings in my life I feel His love. When I remember His sacrifice I feel His love. In my everyday life I can try to develop a similar pattern of showing my love towards other people. I can try and tell other people how I feel about them just as Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ utilize the Spirit to tell me how They feel about me. Simply letting someone know that you like a characteristic about someone, or they are important people in your lives can really brighten up someone’s day and remind them that they are loved and important. Doing our best to be good friends to others can really bless their lives. Understanding that someone needs help and doing your best to help them when you can is an excellent act of charity. Sacrificing a little bit of time to show someone you care or to carry their burdens is something that Christ did during His life on earth on a daily basis (maybe Facebook isn’t such a waste of time afterall J). Sometimes simply realizing there are people out there who are a little bit more important than organic chemistry homework is just enough to get us to participate in the little acts that make up charity.

Paul and Preparing for the Second Coming

When writing to the Thessalonians, Paul remarks about how they are anxiously awaiting the second coming. There were many people at the time who treated everyday as though it was the last day before the second coming. He counsels that although we should be spiritually aware that the second coming could come at any moment, especially when we least expect it, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be preparing for the things of the world which are to come. Some people take the idea that the second coming is coming to an extreme where they refuse to gain an education and fiscally prepare for the things of the world. To me I almost think of this as the opposite between “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die”. I almost think these people would be saying “sit, sit and keep sitting for tomorrow we die”. The purpose for us to come to this earth was so that we can be able to learn and grow from our experiences. The best way to get the most out of our experience here is to set goals. I remember when I was younger sitting in our family room recliner thinking to myself “Man, I can’t wait to…” listing them all off and thinking that life was so boring waiting for these things to happen. It was sitting there waiting for high school to come upon me and then college and eventually (I still hope) a career in veterinary medicine, I realized there was no reason that I had to sit around waiting for life to happen; I could make life happen now. Now, of course, I’m so busy that I almost wish I had time to sit around and be bored. I have trouble thinking that our Heavenly Father sent us here to earth to get our bodies and wait for Christ to come. It is our responsibility to not sit and wait to be prepared, but to be preparing ourselves for that day that it comes. Part of preparing ourselves is to take advantage of the opportunities placed before us in our earthly lives. I firmly believe that there are eternal principles that can be learned from all circumstances that will allow us to move closer to our Heavenly Father and more better prepared for the day that Christ will come. It also reminds me of the parable of the talents. There will be a day that we are accountable for our actions here on earth and how much we utilized our talents in an effort for a greater utility.

Response to the Special Collections Visit

I was really grateful to have to opportunity to see some of the interesting things that we have deep in the Special Collections of the Harold B. Lee Library. It was interesting to see how a writing system was important even in early times. The first writing system that we were able to see was that of cuneiform. We were shown a clay tablet that contained the dealings of a business transaction and allowed us to see that some of the purposes of writing have remained the same throughout time.

The next time we were able to see was the formation of papyrus. Papyrus made brittle paper that was kept in large scrolls. After papyrus came velum and parchment. Monks and nuns would use these forms of paper to write many books including the bible. The artistry that often went into these books was amazing. There were tiny little details shown on every page and decorating every border. The time that went into these books allows us to see the incredible importance that the early Christians placed on the bible.

Although these books were all highly valued it was nearly impossible for the average Christian to own a Bible and be able to read it for themselves due to the astronomical costs (similar to that of a small house in today’s dollars). Gutenburg created the printing press with moveable type allowing the printing of books to be cheaper to obtain and more accessible to the common man. Thanks to this incredible invention the scriptures and other books became more accessible to everyone in the world.

Today it is easy see the great influence that the transformation of the written word as taken on our world today. Without such great changes we wouldn’t have as educated of a people and lack many of the luxuries that we now pretend are necessities. Knowing the great journey that the written word has come to become obtainable for many men, women and children in America, it is important that we be grateful for the effects it has had on us. How can we show gratitude? The large majority of us have been able to become much better educated than our ancient ancestors and we should be grateful for this gift by continuously expanding our knowledge and striving to apply it in our daily lives. Because writing things down is no longer as laborious or expensive as many ancient peoples may have experiences, we should take advantage of our ability to express ourselves and use the written word to share ideas and educate others. In addition we should do as the writers of scriptures did and write small whisperings of the Spirit, goals, daily events and testify of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. In feasting on the written word and using our ability to write it we can take full advantage of the gift that has been given to us and be truly grateful for it.

Why Paul was concerned about circumcision?

Paul took a lot of time in the scriptures to describe how now that they are to live by a higher law, circumcision is no long necessary for salvation. His main concern was that there were many people more concerned with the letter of the law than the spirit of the law. I think that we can use his concern for the people of ancient times to relate to how we should make choices today. The first example that came to my mind in these modern times was that of R rated movies. The was a point where the leaders of the church advised the members of the church to avoid watching R rated movies because the material is likely to chase away the Spirit, something that we should be continuously striving to have as our companion. Recently the leaders have been less exact about our standards concerning movies and other entertainment saying “Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way” (For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God). Does this sudden shift in views suddenly mean that the people of the LDS church should start running to movie theaters and seeing all of the R rated movies that were previously prohibited? Does this mean that the Latter-Day Saints who don’t watch R rated movies should condemn the Latter-Day Saints that do? I would say no to both questions.

At the end of the day the church stands where it says it stands and if you can find an R rated movie that fits it’s standards than you are probably a miracle worker, but more to the point is that it doesn’t matter whether the movie is rated R, PG-13 or even G, we should only be watching uplifting entertainment that will bring us closer to God (Easier said than done, of course).

More closely addressing the second question, we are all responsible for our own choices. Places ourselves above anyone else whether it be because of our wealth (similar to Book of Mormon times) or because we don’t watch R rated movies (drink caffeine, watch TV on Sundays, etc.) we are promoting disunity. Our ultimate goal as Saints is to be prepared to live in the Celestial Kingdom where we will live by the Law of Consecration. In order to live by this law it is essential that we feel love for all mankind and have this sense of unity, not pride. If we are truly aiming to prepare to live in the Celestial Kingdom we will avoid separating people around the world (be they members or not) into social classes.

Being a member of this church is not a process of following a set of rules placed before us through our leaders from our God. We are here to strive to do what is right, everyday, throughout our entire lives. The guidelines that we receive through prophets and the scriptures are only meant to help us achieve our greatest potential. The Spirit can confirm to us that the principles of these laws are true. We will be overwhelmed with the spirit as we continue to pursue these truths and we will feel a great joy from following them. More important than anything else: we are so blessed to have the atonement for those days that we haven’t necessarily done even our best every day. It is evident that Christ loves us and knows us. He knew that we would make mistakes, but He still wanted a way for us to come unto Him. He provided that way whether we watch R rated movies or not; whether we are circumcised or not.