God has given us each of us a compass to lead us home to Him. Magnetic North is Heaven, but His counsel is our needle. If we discard His counsel, we must likewise discard the needle, and though Magnetic North yet remains, to the awareness of all those who still have their needles, we will not know where to go.
The scriptures are a guidebook from Heaven, and prayer is an opportunity to have an interview with the editor. The guidebook may be difficult to read. The editor may speak REALLY quietly and be hard to hear at times. But when the guidebook is for a certain mountain, and we are all mountaineers thereon, who can deny that it is of value? And who can consider it worthless to speak with He that has reached the mountain's summit?
If you feel that you are too busy climbing the mountain to read about how best to climb it, perhaps it's time for you to sit down for a few minutes. Remember that when you are traversing the greatest mountains you are required to acclimatize at regular intervals.
When you study the scriptures, STUDY them. Don't just read because you love the part where Ammon chops off arms, but because on every page there is something important for you to learn. When we read the scriptures for their entertainment value, or to check it off on our To-Do List, then we defeat the purpose of studying at all.
But it is not enough to simply find True North and follow its lead. There are tollbooths all along the way. Here we pay not in money but in our sins, and there is no end to the tollbooths until there is an end to our sins and we have given up everything weak about ourselves for the sake of reaching our heavenly home.
Where, of course, we learn that whenever we give up that which was weak, it was replaced by something strong.
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Intertextuality
If you look at older posts you will see that the number of hyperlinks in them is increasing as time goes on. Eventually there will be some posts that will have very little that is not hypertext. The first reason for doing so, as pertains to hyperlinks that lead to other posts of mine, is to make this blog like Wikipedia insofar as you go from one post to another and keep finding new posts to click on and read.
The other reason for doing this is to illustrate intertextuality, or "the interrelationship between texts [and] the way that similar or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from each other." As the stories that I have told thus far are meant to point forth certain ideas, so to is this blog also meant to illustrate the idea that all books are really one book, and everything (not just in literature, by the way) is connected. These blog posts do not exist independently of each other, nor did they spring from my head without deeper origin like Athena, but they are all part of a single blog, and are drawn from everything else that has so far come out of the world.
The other reason for doing this is to illustrate intertextuality, or "the interrelationship between texts [and] the way that similar or related texts influence, reflect, or differ from each other." As the stories that I have told thus far are meant to point forth certain ideas, so to is this blog also meant to illustrate the idea that all books are really one book, and everything (not just in literature, by the way) is connected. These blog posts do not exist independently of each other, nor did they spring from my head without deeper origin like Athena, but they are all part of a single blog, and are drawn from everything else that has so far come out of the world.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Tending to your "Tree of Life"
See also: Wisdom from the Tree of Life
As an image we can understand the Tree of Life in many ways- let us for now understand it as being symbolic of eternal life as John's Gospel defined it: to have a personal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ.
Alma teaches us that this tree of life springs up from a seed called Faith. It requires careful attention to grow properly but gives a bountiful harvest upon reaching maturity. We can then partake of its fruit, which holds more seeds.
In the allegory of the olive tree one of the concerns had by the Lord of the vineyard and His servants is that the branches will grow too numerous in comparison to the roots. What are the roots? The Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without this single thing there would be no value contained within any of the other doctrines or principles of the Gospel. The Resurrection, eternal marriage, work for the dead, and countless other things would not even be possible, much less worthy of our attention, without the Atonement.
The tree is a lovely thing, praiseworthy and of good report. All of it has value. But if the branches outweigh the roots, or our understanding of the most important principle is outweighed by "appendage doctrines," then one day it may be said of your tree, "the wild branches have overcome the roots thereof" and "it beginneth to perish." Sufficient attention must be paid to the roots in order for the tree to be properly nourished, or else it will wither and die.
As an image we can understand the Tree of Life in many ways- let us for now understand it as being symbolic of eternal life as John's Gospel defined it: to have a personal knowledge of God and Jesus Christ.
Alma teaches us that this tree of life springs up from a seed called Faith. It requires careful attention to grow properly but gives a bountiful harvest upon reaching maturity. We can then partake of its fruit, which holds more seeds.
In the allegory of the olive tree one of the concerns had by the Lord of the vineyard and His servants is that the branches will grow too numerous in comparison to the roots. What are the roots? The Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without this single thing there would be no value contained within any of the other doctrines or principles of the Gospel. The Resurrection, eternal marriage, work for the dead, and countless other things would not even be possible, much less worthy of our attention, without the Atonement.
The tree is a lovely thing, praiseworthy and of good report. All of it has value. But if the branches outweigh the roots, or our understanding of the most important principle is outweighed by "appendage doctrines," then one day it may be said of your tree, "the wild branches have overcome the roots thereof" and "it beginneth to perish." Sufficient attention must be paid to the roots in order for the tree to be properly nourished, or else it will wither and die.
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