Tag Archives: Guest Post

Guest Post: The Church Got the Plan of Salvation Wrong

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The following guest post comes from Tex Benson.

I have lived in the south-eastern United States my entire life including my mission which was in Houston Texas. God bless Texas. Currently I am in my fourth year of school studying Civil Engineering and Military Science (Army ROTC). At church I serve as the Stake Young Single Adult Representative, which I hate, and I teach Elders Quorum once a month(ish), which I love.

Ok, not the whole Church, just the Mission Department and the Church Education System. I wanted an edgy title.

I realized this while I was on my mission but wasn’t really sure how to address it and the reason I am ranting about it now is because I am ashamed of myself. Recently I attended a Young Single Adult fireside and honestly this one was quite good, however it hit on a pet peeve of mine. Towards the end the Bishop who was teaching asked for a volunteer to come up and draw the Plan of Salvation on the board with the rest of the group assisting them on what to put in. Before the young man drew the Pre-Earth Life I knew what would happen, but I let it go to see if someone said something. I had enough confidence in this bishop to think that if no one else pointed out the problem he would at the end. Sadly, my faith was in vain. The typical Sunday school Plan of Salvation was put on the board complete with Outer Darkness, the War in Heaven, and the Veil. The only time Christ was mentioned as part of the plan was when a woman said “put an A by the Earth for the Atonement”. Sadly she was shouted down by an argument about the Veil of Forgetfulness and her A was never drawn. I had a difficult decision to make, do I call out a Bishop and everyone else or do I stay silent? I chose to stay silent.

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Guest Post: Becoming New Creatures

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Christ continually invites us to abandon old habits, attitudes, and thoughts and replaces them with newer and better ones.

The following guest post from Jeffery Thane is cross-posted at LDSPhilosopher.com.

As repeated in the Book of Mormon countless times, prophets have long prophesied that Christ would come to earth to redeem His people. Abinadi taught that “God himself should come down among the children of men, and take upon him the form of man, and go forth in mighty power upon the face of the earth … that he should bring to pass the resurrection of the dead … and redeem his people.” Abinadi was murdered for preaching this, but Alma, Abinadi’s sole convert, continued to teach others about “the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ.”

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Guest Post: The Eye of Faith

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If faith is like an eye (Alma 32:40), then it’s a way of seeing, not a way of getting by without seeing at all.

By Jeffrey Thayne

We often talk about faith as the absence of sight. For example, we are taught that “if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen,” and “faith is things which are hoped for and not seen.” We often visualize faith as taking a step into the unknown, or trusting that which we cannot see. This conception of faith is partly true. However, for a moment, I would like to explore faith as a way of seeing, not just the absence of sight. It is sight enlivened by the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

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Guest Post: A Bulgarian Christmas

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Joyce Brinton Anderson was kind enough to share the following missionary  story with M*.

Joyce is a former high school social studies teacher, but is now working as Chief of Domestic Operations for the Anderson Family.  She graduated from BYU with a “useful liberal arts” degree in International Relations, and has half a masters degree with no desire to ever finish what she started.  She served a full time mission in Bulgaria as well.  She and her husband teach the member missionary Sunday School class in their ward when they are not running after their almost-toddler son.  In her “spare” time (haha) Joyce is a news/politics junkie, reads, tries to bake things without much suscess and dreams of going to England, Scotland and Ireland to see where her favorite BBC shows were filmed.

I spent one Christmas away from my family on a mission in Bulgaria. My companion, Sister Johnson and I, were really looking forward to this Christmas, our missionary Christmas. We’d planned to spend it with members of the Plovdiv Branch of the LDS Church and visiting less active members of the Branch, we were excited to have this time in Bulgaria and to have time to focus on the Savior. We even had an investigator coming to the branch Christmas party, which made us feel very good about our efforts of late.

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Guest Post: What Goes Around…

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Another guest post from E. Paul Whetten. You can read Paul’s previous post here.

Several days ago I was having a real heart-to-heart discussion with my teenage daughter about obedience. During the discussion I explained to her that my demand for obedience was not a power trip for me. I am larger and stronger than her and, if it came down to it, I could force her to comply with my requests by brute strength (at least until the cops came). My desire for her to be obedient was much more important than my personal ego. I explained that her mother and I have been around the block a few more times than she has and can see things that are beyond the horizons of her personal experience. More importantly, if she learned to be obedient in the small things that we asked of her (i.e. pick up your room, do your homework, stop beating your sister with a board, etc.) then obedience would be easier for her in the big moments of decision. (i.e. – chastity, word of wisdom, tithing, no dating till your 16, etc.)

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