"...one of mortality's great tests comes when our beliefs are questioned or criticized. In such moments, we may want to respond aggressively--to 'put up our dukes.' But these are important opportunities to step back, pray, and follow the Savior's example. Remember that Jesus himself was despised and rejected by the world. And in Lehi's dream, those coming to the Savior also endured 'mocking and pointing...fingers' (1 Nephi 8:27) 'The world hath hated my disciples,' Jesus said, 'because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world' (John 17:14) But when we respond to our accusers as the Savior did, we not only become more Christlike, we invite others to feel His love and follow Him as well. "To respond in a Christlike way cannot be scripted or based on a formula. The Savior responded differently in every situation. When He was confronted by wicked King Herod, He remained silent. When He stood before Pilate, He bore a simple and powerful testimony of His divinity and purpose. Facing the moneychangers who were defiling the temple, He exercised His divine responsibility to preserve and protect that which was sacred. Lifed up upon a cross, He uttered the incomparable Christian response: 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' (Luke 23:34). "Some people mmistakenly think responses such as silence, meedness, forgiveness, and bearing humble testimony are passive or weak. But to 'love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which espitefully use us, and persecute us' (Matthew 5:44) takes faith, strength, and, most of all, Christian courage." (Robert D. Hales)
"...the only way to live forever in association with our families and in the presence of our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, is to choose to enter into the gate by baptism at the hands of those with authority from God....the only way families can be together forever is to accept and keep sacred covenants offered in the temples of God on this earth." (Henry B. Eyring)
More information can be found @: Mormon.org or LDS.org
I absolutely love the old photos!
ReplyDeleteJenn