As I wrote at the beginning of the month, throughout the year I’ll be linking to different LDS related content across the web that I found interesting this month. I’ll also be adding a short blurb about the book I focused on finishing this month and how it helped me grow as a person. I hope you will always let me know what you enjoyed most so I can work to find similar content to share with you in the next month!

Posts

Why It Is Sometimes So Hard to Understand the OT-The author of this post, Jim F, spends some time speaking about differences between Hebrew thinking and our own.

Secrets of the patriarch’s bear flag-An interesting story about the first American flag flown over Los Angeles.

Haiti earthquake inspires compassion-How the Church has responded to the crisis in Haiti.

We Should Be Mormons-A wonderful, beautifully written post about how science and faith can work together in our belief system.

Baby Born at Tonga Temple-My favorite post of the month. LDS endowed members will likely also be as stunned as I was to read that the woman who delivered the child got up and walked right into her session directly after! I of course, also love the author’s reference to the LDS belief that the home can be as sacred as a temple. I sincerely hope that my birth will be a sacred experience.

“Not lucky, blessed”-When we hear of hardships others around the world are experiencing it can be difficult to come to terms with how unequal it all feels. The author of this post reminds us that we aren’t lucky, we’re blessed by the Lord and should acknowledge it as such.

The Black Hole-Excellent post on how we might adjust our approach to teaching our children about the dangers of pornography.

First Presidency Appeals to Church Members to Help People in Haiti-The leaders of the Church are asking us to do more, both with our monetary contributions and our faith.

Talk

To Acquire Spiritual Guidance-Elder Scott talks about some very personal experiences he has had with receiving personal revelation from the Lord. Reading this really made me think about how I can do a better job of listening to what the Lord would like to say to me, rather than telling Him what I need in my life.

BOOK

The Savior & The Serpent- The book I chose to focus on finishing this month per my New Years Resolution to read one Church related non-fiction book per month. Alonzo Gaskill was my favorite religion professor at BYU, and it’s likely that my February book choice will be written by him as well. I absolutely cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who is interested in an LDS interpretation of one of the most important events in human history, The Fall of Adam. The first section covers the LDS view of The Fall, labeling it as commonly misunderstood and explaining why the Fall was necessary as a part of God’s Plan of Happiness. The second section breaks down the events of The Fall comparing you and I to Adam and Eve, explaining how their actions were a type for our own. Chapter 3 speaks of Adam and Eve as types for Christ and His Church and the last section covers textual insights into the doctrine of the Fall.

To give you a little taste, I’ll quote from the section that comments on the phrase “I will greatly multiply they sorrow and they conception” found in Genesis 3:16. (I don’t think it’s any surprise that I was so interested in a commentary on what purpose the pain of childbearing and labor might serve!)

There may be both literal and symbolic meaning in this phrase. In the more literal sense, Eve, and all women after her, suffer physically during childbirth because of the Fall and the changes it brought to the physical body. However, the pain of giving birth has also been seen as a symbol of the members of Christ’s Church struggling to give “birth to temperance in their soul.” Augustine wrote: “Carnal desire… does not [cause] pain in the beginning, until [a] habit is bent toward improvement… In order that this [good] habit might be born, there was a painful struggle with [the] bad habit.” The pains of giving birth not only remind us of the Fall. They are also a sign of impending joy. Just as the pains bring forth a child-which the parents rejoice in-our trials can bring forth change and redemption-which will be the source of eternal joy for all those who are willing to experience the “labor pains” of the mortal test. Change does not come easily. If we are to overcome sinful desires and habits, there must be significant travail preceding our being “born again.”

Video

At a time when I think we all feel a bit hopeless or powerless to help meet the needs of others, I appreciate this reminder that God works miracles, both great and small, and we can petition those miracles through the power of prayer.

Prayer is the provider of spiritual strength… It is the passport of spiritual peace… Miracles are wrought through prayer.- -President Thomas S. Monson