Tag Archives: obedient

Gospel Doctrine: The Faithful and Wise Servant

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For the last blog on this week’s Sunday School lesson, I’d like to examine the parable of the servants given in JS-M 1:49-55. In this parable, the master departs, leaving a servant in charge of his household. The wise servant is anxiously engaged in doing the work the master left for him, but the evil servant is slothful and spends his time in riotous living. When the master returns, the servant receives his reward. Elder Bruce R. McConkie states in his book Doctrinal New Testament Commentary that “Jesus speaks here of his ministers, his servants, the holders of his holy … Continue reading →

Gospel Doctrine: The ‘Burden’ of the Sabbath

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Lesson 10 this week focuses on the lightness of the Savior’s yoke. At first, I had a hard time with the section included in the lesson on the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:1-13). I had difficulty relating the two together, and had to ponder it for some time (actually, several days, since I read the entire lesson on Sunday). However, as I read what the Savior taught as the purpose of the Sabbath, I came to understand how this relates to a light and easy yoke. First, of course, you must understand that the Pharisees followed the traditions of the elders, … Continue reading →

Gospel Doctrine: Prepare His Ways and Make His Paths Straight

The sometimes not-so-good thing about detailed scripture study is that you very rarely make it very far very fast. Today, after a good half hour of study, I finished the first three verses of Matthew 3, which make up part of next week’s lesson. The good thing, of course, is that I wound up pondering those three verses in full, and of course, part of that pondering included researching the scriptures given in the footnote. The surface of the verses seems very simplistic; John the Baptist began his mortal ministry, preaching that we must “Repent..: for the kingdom of Heaven … Continue reading →

RS/EQ: Casually But Not Devoutly

The final section in next Sunday’s Priesthood and Relief Society lesson deals with exaltation. After detailing the difference between immortality and eternal life, after describing the different degrees of glory and how they may be obtained, the quotes center on achieving exaltation. In short, they turn on the old ‘faith versus works’ argument. One of the things that greatly impressed me when I investigated the church was the direction the gospel takes that argument. To quote James in James 2:18, “I will shew thee my faith BY my works” (emphasis added). That is, once we have faith, we will prove … Continue reading →