Doctrine and Covenants Class*

Two posts in one day! Wow. Anyway, the whole reason I decided to start this blog was because of my Doctrine and Covenants class. In my class, we have to write a half page-one page response paper for every class based on what we read and talked about for/in the previous class, and while I was writing one of those response papers I kinda wanted to share it with people. It also made me think that it would be nice to type my ideas down (technically, I'm not "writing" my ideas down) every once in a while and if people want to read them well hey that's great. So here's two of those response papers I've written so far.

1- The summer between my junior and senior years in high school, my family and I went to Nauvoo. We went while the Nauvoo pageant was going on, and of course there were anti-Mormons there handing out some of their anti-Mormon literature. My brother took one in passing, not knowing what it was (or he might have known and just wanted to see what it said, I’m not really sure), and later, I read through the newspaper style pamphlet that they had given him. I don’t remember many of the articles, though I do remember there were some on Joseph Smith, and I will admit that they shook my testimony in him a little bit. I’ve never been able to completely shake those little negative thoughts that those articles instilled in me, but as I looked back through section 21 and was reminded of this experience I had a little over 3 years ago, I was also reminded that Joseph Smith really was called of God. Joseph Smith really did restore this gospel, and he really was a prophet. His words are the Lord’s words, and he was truly “inspired to move the cause of Zion in mighty power for good.” It’s natural for us to doubt our church leaders sometimes, but openly criticizing or rebelling against them leads straight to apostasy. It doesn’t matter what those articles said, because they are wrong, and they are the work of Satan. Even if they do contain some truth, it has been twisted in order to defame this great servant of God and God’s church that he restored. Satan will tell us one truth and nine lies in order to get his hands on us. Satan’s never ending attempts to bring down this church or to pull its members off the path of righteousness simply testify to me of the truthfulness of this gospel. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and I know this church is true.

2-We all have our unhappy times, and I am no different. There are times when something or someone has put me in a bad mood, times that my hormones are running rampant, times when I’m just having a bad day, even times when I don’t want to feel happy because I just want to wallow in my own self-pity. We have every reason in the world to be unhappy, but then again, we also have every reason in the world to be happy. As members of the church we have the most important reasons of all to be happy. We know the answers to those great questions by which so many are consumed. We know how things are going to turn out, and we should keep our eyes on the prize. While we may lose focus every once in a while, we’re going to be happy in the end, and why shouldn’t we be happy on the journey too? When we’ve come to the end of this life, and our life flashes before our eyes as so many say it does, what kinds of memories do we want to see flash before our eyes? Do we want most of our memories to be sad and depressing? Do we want to find ourselves filled with regret in those final moments because we didn’t live our lives to the fullest, or do we want our memories to be filled with happiness and joy? I certainly want to look back on my life and know that I seized the day every chance I got, in spite of the challenges I faced. Some of us will have to endure some of the most grueling and terrible trials, and so I say to the mother who loses her child, to the husband who loses his wife, to the young woman whose virtue is stolen from her, to those who feel lost and alone that everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end. And when we’ve hit rock bottom, there is always someone there to lift us back up, and that person is our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the most reliable source we can put our trust in during our hard times, and he will never, ever let us down. We may feel that he has sometimes, but that is just because we are too blinded by our own pride. He really will always be there for us, even if we can’t see it.
Phew, sorry, that was a long one. *Wrap*