Study Ideas – Ammon Shepherd

Seven points that clarify Christ's existence

I’ve been struggling to find a topic or study practice to keep my studies coherent. I was prompted to start reading “Jesus the Christ” by James E. Talmage.

I only have a copy in German, from my mission, so this will be interesting (unfortunately my German skills have deteriorated). Of course it is available in many languages for free on Project Gutenberg. So I may have to reference that quite often.

Talmage makes seven points from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that are specific to the understanding of Jesus Christ and which are different than any other church’s beliefs.

Christ’s mission extends before and after his earthly life.
He belonged to the Godhead before his life on earth.
He was literally the son of a God and a mortal mother
His physical death and physical resurrection really did happen, and as a result the power of death has been overcome (much more to be written on that later, but basically, because Jesus had the ability to make his spirit and body reunite after separating through death, he will give everyone who has died the power to reunite their spirit and body. The LDS Church, I think, is unique in believing this will happen for every single person who lived on the earth.)
The Atonement is a reality, it really did happen, and anybody who follows Christ’s gospel will be able to use it.
Jesus’ power (the priesthood) and his church are restored in this time period, which is called the “dispensation of the fullness of times” in the scriptures
Jesus Christ will really come again in a relatively short time, and will personally and physically be the king and Lord of earth.

Well, my translations aren’t that bad. Each of those points could be a book… or at least a nice blog post. 🙂

The Doctrine of Christ

I read 2 Nephi chapter 31 recently, and was struck by the simple and pure and direct way it explains the doctrine of Christ. The testimony of the doctrine of Christ in 2 Nephi 31 is this:

Jesus lived and does live
Jesus was a perfect example. He was even baptized to show the importance of baptism and the importance of being obedient. We might feel that some commandments and rules do not apply to us, but Jesus showed the example that we should obey all the commandments of God.
Follow God’s commandments.
Repent
Be baptized in the name of Jesus
Receive the Holy Ghost
Endure to the end.

The message is so pure and simple that it can be found in just two verses, 17 and 20. Again, the Doctrine of Christ is:

Repentence
Baptism
Holy Ghost
Press Forward – keep the commandments
Feast on the words of Christ
Endure to the end

What a blessing to have the Gospel, the Doctrine of Christ laid out so plainly and clearly. I’m not sure if it is so concise and clear in the other scriptures. Some day I’ll have to look through and see.

No More Disposition to do Evil

Back in May of this year I started to search through the scriptures about what it means and how to obtain a state where I no longer have a disposition to do evil. One definition of “disposition” is “an inclination or tendency.” Much too often my disposition is to give in to temptations. I’m no where near the level of Nephi, and I all too often must cry out “O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities. I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins…” [2 Nephi 4: 17-19].

King Benjamin preaches about the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his people.

I was reading in Mosiah and came across the people who have been taught by King Benjamin. After hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in such plainness they desire to be baptised, and covenant to follow Jesus. They exclaim great joy at their “mighty change within [them], or in [their] hearts, that [they] have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” [Mosiah 5: 2]

So, taking that phrase as a theme for gospel study (no more disposition to do evil), I set about finding scriptures to enlighten and help me learn how I can have such a change in my heart. I found over two dozen scriptures and came away with six points to creating such a change in myself. I’ll go through them and my thoughts about them this week.

Sunday lessons

I’m just going to comment on a few things I learned yesterday at Church.

1. In Sunday School, our teacher started in on the war chapters of Alma. One thing she mentioned (well, actually reiterated again and again) is that the main purpose of the Book of Mormon is to teach us about Christ, the Fall, Atonement and Resurrection. Everything in the Book of Mormon is there to teach us about those three things, mainly about Christ. So Moroni’s story, of strengthening the weakest cities, of raising the title of liberty, of fighting the Lamanites, is all about how we can gain a testimony about Christ. I’d like to take this thought as a scripture study idea. Look at each chapter in the Book of Mormon and see how it tells about the Fall, Atonement, Resurrection, or some other aspect of Jesus Christ or his Gospel.

2. I need to do much better at getting to know the Elders in the Quorum, to interview them often and find out how they are doing, their families are doing, and how their home teaching families are doing. That should be my main concern.

3. A High Council man spoke in our Sacrament meeting. He used several stories to show how we need to look after the individual members of the Ward. There was one in particular that spoke to me, but I can’t remember it now… I’ll need to contact the Brother and get a copy of the talk or something.