Scriptural Studies Personal Studies of the Gospel of Jesus 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 [...]

John chapters 20-21
In this lesson, I hoped the students would:

gain (or strengthen) a testimony of the resurrected Jesus
commit to follow Jesus by “feeding” his “sheep”

Three Levels of Knowledge

Another Seminary lesson.
John chaptes 14-17.
Two Comforters
Jesus speaks of two comforters. Who are they? John 14: 15-27 shows that they are the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ himself. Jesus gives the following promises in these verses.

v. 16 – Christ prays for us that he will be with us
v. 17 – Christ shall dwell with and in [...]

I recently was a substitute for our Ward’s early morning Seminary. I’m amazed at these kids who get to the Church building at 6am for some scripture study. I had it easy with release time. I took seminary as if it were a regular class in high school. Anyhow, the next few posts will be [...]

Here are a few scriptures and some thoughts about “greater love hath no man” from a July 23, 2007 journal entry.

Luke 23: 33-46 – the account of the crucifiction.  Christ giving His spirit to the Father. It shows love when you give of yourselft to someone else. You give children your time, your family time [...]

Three Great Pillars: Creation, Fall, Atonement.
Creation:
Genesis 1: 26-27.  We are created in God’s image.
Agency and Consequences:
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-19.

Why did God command Adam and Eve to not partake of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge, when He knew it was part of the Eternal Plan? – Quote 1
Why was Lucifer allowed into the Garden of [...]

[From my journal on  November 26, 2007]
Jan was having a hard time staying in bed tonight. When Jess went down to get water, she came in to ask me to put her blanket on her. I chose to ignore her because Jess had given Jan explicit instructions to stay in bed and consequences if she [...]

February 10, 2008  Sacrament meeting talk.  by Ammon Shepherd
Charity = the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love; a prompting motive of actions. Charity is a defining quality, it creates change.
Moroni 7:46-47 – charity is the greatest of all;
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – if I have ___ but not charity, I am nothing.
Matthew 22:36-40 – love is [...]

I’m reading in the Joseph Smith Manual about the signs of the second coming of Christ. Here they are:

pestilence
war and bloodshed, sword, great wars, rumors of wars
moon will be turned into blood
famine
great destruction
great distress
judgements
“whenever you see the [rain]bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the [...]

Today was Fast Sunday for us, since Stake Conference is next Sunday. Jonas was sitting next to me, and when there was a lull in people bearing testimony I asked Jonas if he wanted to go. He got quiet and solemn. I could tell he wanted to, but was a bit afraid. When the next [...]