Temporal and Spiritual Knowledge

Alma 12:10 "...he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him it is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full."

I had cross referenced D&C 130:18-19

"Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."

I have been wondering about this lately...with my limited amount of time to study, I am sometimes torn between reading to increase my temporal knowledge and reading the scriptures. I searched "knowledge" on lds.org for some answers. The first 24 articles about knowledge were spiritually related, here is what #25 said (New Era > February 1972 Q&A's):

“Is religious education more important than academic education?”

"...we cannot neglect our academic learning if we are to follow the counsel of the Lord...The academic knowledge we gain will benefit us in our temporal pursuits but the knowledge we gain of spiritual and eternal truths will prepare us to live happily in this life and throughout eternity in the kingdom of God. Our eventual goal is to gain all knowledge necessary to be like our Eternal Father. We can move in that direction only if we devote our energies and abilities to gaining knowledge of God and his laws and incorporating into our lives eternal truth wherever it is found."

So, from this I am feeling that I should use most the time I have gaining spiritual knowledge, but when I can I should also try to gain more temporal knowledge, especially that will benefit me and my family in this life.

"Restored to Its Proper Frame"

Alma 11:42-44 talks about resurrection and the state of our bodies after. In my manual there is a long quote from Joseph Fielding Smith about this.

"Deformity will be removed; defects will be eliminated, and men and women shall attain to the perfection of their spirits, to the perfection that God designed in the beginning. It is his purpose that men and women, his children, born to become heirs of God, and joint heirs of Jesus Christ, shall be made perfect, physically as well and spiritually, through obedience to the law by which he has provided the means that perfection shall come to all his children..."

My mom and I were talking about gaining knowledge in this life...we were wondering if maybe after you are resurrected gaining knowledge is easier? Anyone have any insight on this?

Heritage Park

Today Cindy (my mom-in-law) took me and Allie to Heritage Park (This is the Place Memorial) and we walked through the Pioneer Village and such...It was really neat! You can really feel the spirit there and it really opens your eyes to the way people lived back then. We walked into most of the homes (which were mostly replicated) and talked to the people reinacting to learn more about the early settlers of Salt Lake Valley down to just past Nephi.

The best house we went into was the house of ancestors of Marjorie Hinkley's (Cindy knew this because she knows a lot about church and family history.) There was a cute old lady sitting inside that told us to come in and she would tell us more about the house. She was excited to tell us that her father was born inside the house and that her family had helped rebuild it after they transported the remains from a town outside of Nephi. So of course we asked her if she was related to Marjorie Hinckley and she is her sister! She goes up to the park just on Fridays to tell people about the house and because she loves being there. She was so sweet and told us some of the stories of the family that traveled to the Valley.

At the front of the park is where the big statue is there is a scripture from Isaiah that is also found in Nephi 12:2 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it..."

I always wondered if that was talking about the Salt Lake Temple, and I think that it is...this, in a way, confirmed it for me. When I read that and thought about the pioneers and all they went through to get to Utah and build the temple I just wondered what they would think if they saw Utah right now. Would they be excited and happy about how many people are here now and how the church has grown? Would they see all the wickedness here and wonder how it got so bad? I just wonder, and I hope that they can see all the good and growth that has come from the sacrifices they made. I have a real appreciation for the early members of the church, and I hope that I am living my life the way they hoped their future generation would.

"The Marvelous Light of God"

Reading: Mosiah 27

In my manual there is a great quote about Mosiah 27:25 that I wanted to post.

"As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved, and while our hearts are filled with evil, and we are studying evil, there is no room in our hearts for good, or studying good. Is not God good? Then you be good; if he is faithful, then you be faithful. Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, and seek for every good thing."

"The church must be cleansed, and I proclaim against all iniquity. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist us, and give us knowledge of the things of God" (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith p.217)

This quote makes me really want to study and learn more about the gospel...

Mosiah 25

Trey and I started reading the scriptures together when we first got married. We would read a chapter a night. Last night I told him I wanted him to read the same scriptures I am reading during the day so we can discuss it later, since we don't always get a chance to read at night with a noisy baby :) He has the scriptures on his Ipod so I am going to just start where we left off last...Mosiah 25.

I love to read with the student manual I got while I was at BYU. It has so many insights I would never see if I didn't read with it. Here is one of the topics in my manual from Mosiah 25:5-11

"Struck with wonder and amazement"

These verses show the importance and value of keeping records. They "enlarge the memory of the people...and convince many of the error of their ways, and bring them to the knowledge of God unto their salvation" (paraphrased)

A couple sundays ago we were talking about things we do to make ourselves happy when we are down. I realized that keeping a journal gives me pages and pages of happy/exciting experiences that definitely make me happy to read. It also reminds me of times when I thought my life couldn't be worse and I can read what I did and how I overcame that feeling. Or, I can just see that I was making a mountain out of a molehill. I also think it is very beneficial to keep a spiritual journal (or just add spiritual experiences in my journal) I am always mad at myself and a little embarrassed when I read my journals and they are mostly about boys rather than spiritual experiences and more of my hopes/dreams/thoughts about life :)