So.... I am officially horrible at posting stuff on here. Any of you this bad at posting things like I am?? Haha. Well.... To start off today's post, I am FINALLY a senior :D I can't believe it!! I am still attending Canyon Ridge, and I love it. I have never truly enjoyed a school as much as this one. Yes, like the past schools I have attended, there have been issues and trials and whatnot, but being at this school has helped me, personally, be a better person. I think being a senior this coming year will also help me a lot more also. Its amazing how just a school can change so much in your life, how you act, and who you become. I know it changed me for the best, and I have my Heavenly Father to thank for that.
Anyways... Since my last post, which I believe was about my dear friend Ashley, I can say there has been A LOT that has happened. I can happily say that I have earned my Young Womanhood Recognition, received my gift from it, and wear it proudly. Being able to complete my Personal Progress has been amazing and blessed me with so much. A lot of that I can thank to my mom. She helped me through so much and kept on pushing me to finish it.
Today I was able to give a talk on the Second Article of Faith. Just for the heck of it, I am gonna write what my talk says. People all day at church said it was really well said and thought out, so maybe you will like it too.
The Second Article of Faith states, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." I looked at the cross-references from the words punished, own, and transgression.
Under punished, it gave the scripture Exodus 32:33, which says, "And the Lord said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." That scripture is pretty self-explanatory. If you sin and not repent of it, then God will not bless you with the things he has/had in store for you.
The second scripture I looked up was Mosiah 26:36, which states, "And those that would not confess their sins and repent of their iniquity, the same were not numbered among the people of the church, and their names were blotted out." Like the first scripture, this explains what Heavenly Father wanted to put across to those who would not listen and obey His commandments.
And the last scripture I looked up under punished was D&C 127:7 and 128:7. I am only going to post 127:7. It says, "That in all your recordings it may be recorded in heaven; whatsoever you bind on earth, may be bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth, may be loosed in heaven."
I next researched on the word own and it gave me the scripture Deut. 24:16, which says, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin." I very much liked reading this verse because it explains that you can not give your wrong doing to someone else to take the consequence for you. You, yourself, have to claim the sin you made and deal with the consequence and understand that the outcome was only because of the choice you made.
I also looked up Ezek.18:20, which says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." This also explains the same as the scripture I wrote above.
When I looked up the last scripture for own, I was referred to Joshua 24:15. This scripture reads, "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Out of the Bible, this has got to be my favorite scripture. It is so bold in what it explains. You cannot choose to follow the Lord and Satan, both. You must choose whether you will follow one or the other. But to follow both, it is impossible and incorrect.
And for my last cross-reference on transgression, I read Matthew 12:36, which states, "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." This speaks of foul language that the world uses every day, in these days. So many people are always swearing and cussing, etc... What people don't understand is when they use God's name in vain, its worse than putting all of the worlds swear words together. It states very clearly in the Ten Commandments to NOT use His name in vain. Using this language is also very offensive to not only Heavenly Father, but to also those of who do not use those words so rudely and wrong.
I also read in Alma 12:14. This scripture reads, "For our words will condemn us, yea all our words will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless, and our thoughts will also condemn us, and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
The last scripture I read was in Eccl. 5:2. This reads, "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter ANY thing before God: for God is in Heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few."
I read on lds.org, under Fall of Adam, some of the process of why we have sin. It states, "The process by which mankind became mortal in this earth. The fall of Adam is one of the most important occurrences in the history of man. Before the fall, Adam and Eve had physical bodies but no blood. There was no sin, no death, and no children among any of the earthly creations. With the eating of the "forbidden fruit," Adam and Eve became the "first flesh" upon the earth, meaning that he and Eve were the first to become mortal. After Adam fell, the whole creation fell and became mortal. Adam's fall brought both physical and spiritual death into the world upon all mankind.
The fall was no surprise to the Lord. It was a necessary step in the process of man, and provisions for a Savior had been made even before the fall had occurred. Jesus Christ came to atone for the fall of Adam and also for man's individual sins.
Latter-day revelation supports the biblical account of the fall, showing that is was a historical event that literally occurred in the history of man. Many points in latter-day revelation are also clarified that are not discernible from the Bible. Among other things, it makes clear that the fall is a blessing, and that Adam and Eve should be honored in their station as the first parents of the earth."
I am truly grateful for the gift of repentance and the blessings I have received from it. I know that we have a prophet of God here upon the earth this day. I know that this is the true church of God, and I am so grateful to be apart of it and have been raised in the church. This is my testimony, and I leave it with you all, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
I shall HOPEFULLY write again soon!!! :) See ya!
