Christ and The Everlasting Gospel

This week we talked about Christ's miracles in the New Testament, but also His miracles in our own lives.  I think all the miracles performed in the Bible have a symbolic parallelism in our lives.  For example, being able to "move mountains" through faith might mean that we will move mountains in our lives instead of moving an entire landmass on earth. In Mark 4 Christ is on a sea with his disciples and there is a giant storm that makes his men believe they will perish in the sea.  After clearing the storm, he says to the men:  40  Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41  And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Today in our class we talked about having the faith to NOT be healed.  This means having faith in whatever God's will is - whether that is to heal you or not heal you because he has other plans or because that test/trial is meaningf...

I read an awesome passage this week about the calling of the Apostles.  In Luke 5:9-11 it reads: 9  For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: 10  And so   was   also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt   catch  men. 11  And when they had brought their ships to land, they   forsook   all, and   followed   him. As I read this I kept thinking about Elder Holland's talk where he narrates the scene of Peter going back to fishing after Christ's death.  In the verses I included , though, it says he forsook all - even after catching enough fish to break his nets so he must've been pretty stoked on fishing, but nah he still left it all to follow Christ.  Why then, did he go back to fishing after Christ was gone? This helps me to see that when we commit to follow Christ...

This week I read Matthew 3 and pondered on the baptism of Jesus Christ.  One verse I specifically liked was v11 which reads: I  indeed  baptize  you with water unto  repentance : but  he  that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not  worthy  to bear: he shall  baptize  you with the Holy Ghost, and  with   fire I like that John the Baptist knew that he did not have the authority to give the Gift of the Holy Ghost, but he knew that he could only baptize people with water.  The baptism of water is a symbol of repentance that says that we have left our old life behind and want to follow Christ.  It is also said to "wash away our sins", but it is important to follow it with the baptism of fire which "purifies". Later in the chapter, Christ comes and is baptized by John and then the Holy Ghost descends upon Him.  I love the symbolism in this chapter.   I am grateful for a Loving Hea...

I wanted to write down some of my thoughts on reading the Bible, specifically the Gospels.  Last semester I had a goal to read the gospels and then afterwards go on to read the journeys of Paul.  I did not complete my goal.  For some reason I just wasn't able to stick with my reading. I didn't have much of a drive to read in that part of the scriptures everyday.  Now, after reading "Gospels" in the Bible Dictionary, I think I know why it was hard for me. The BD states, " he four Gospels are not so much biographies as they are testimonies. They do not reveal a day-by-day story of the life of Jesus; rather, they tell who Jesus was, what He said, what He did, and why it was important."  I think I struggled because I thought I was following a story-line, but I would keep getting lost and just be like, what's going on.. and then because I was confused I wouldn't read as much.  Now I see I need to look at it more as a compilation of stories and events.  I...