"Unlike today, clothing in ancient times was very costly and difficult to make. The hand spinning and looming process could take possibly hundreds of hours for a single piece of clothing. Thus, the giving of clothing, especially ceremonial clothing, represented a significant bestowing of authority and power."
'Knowing why we left the presence of our Heavenly Father and what it takes to return and be exalted with Him, it becomes very clear that nothing relative to our time on earth can be more important than physical birth and spiritual rebirth, the two prerequisites of eternal life. This is, to use the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the “office” of marriage, the “post of responsibility towards … mankind,” that this divine institution “from above, from God” occupies. It is the “link in the chain of the generations” both here and hereafter—the order of heaven.'
Taylor and Tyler of Come Follow Me Insights tell in the above video about four areas that can help my study of the New Testament.
1. History
721 BC Assyria
587 BC Babylon
530s BC Persia
330 BC Greece
2. Language
The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Jewish Bible There was an Aramaic version that was the common language of the people. It was not commonly used during the time of Jesus.
"Courage is the rarest of the good traits in human beings. And it is the one upon which all the others are dependent. Because without courage, kindness and integrity and all these other wonderful things, don't amount to much. Because the world demands courage on every plane in life." - Dennis Prager
Labels can be fun and indicate your support for any number of positive things. But if any label replaces your most important identifiers, the results can be spiritually suffocating. I believe that if the Lord were speaking to you directly, the first thing He would make sure you understand is your true identity. My dear friends, you are literally spirit children of God.
No identifier should displace, replace, or take priority over these three enduring designations:
- Child of God
- Child of the covenant
- Disciple of Jesus Christ
Any identifier that is not compatible with those three basic designations will ultimately let you down. Make no mistake about it: Your potential is divine. With your diligent seeking, God will give you glimpses of who you may become.
- how all missionaries got smart phones before the Covid-19 pandemic.
- how President Nelson was instructed to share his #GiveThanks video
- a moving story of how she gave her often quoted talk in Oct 2001, “Are We Not all Mothers?”
- even though prophets are fallible, they are one of the most trusted sources for moral truth today.
It is a powerful witness to me of who I can trust most. She tells of the most recent counsel of President Nelson.
"To increase our capacity to receive revelation, spend more time in the temple, and become a major force in gathering Israel. To understand who we are as children of God, children of the covenant, and disciples of Christ, and to never allow other identifiers to replace those three primary designations. And to let God prevail in our lives."
Jesus clothed or covered Adam and Eve. I see this as a symbol of him offering his atonement to them.
If Atonement means to cover. What does it mean to re-cover? Perhaps it is to apply the blood of the atonement of Jesus Christ to cover us with his strength or his grace. To enable us to be born again as a new creature. One whose confidence has waxed strong in his presence.
3 Nephi 22:4 "Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more." https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/3-ne/22?lang=eng&id=4#4
Mike Rowe paraphrases the best advice his mom ever gave him:
Don't follow your passion but always bring it with you. Find a way to love whatever it is you wind up doing. That to me has informed everything. Just because you love something doesn't that you can't stink at it. Just because you don't love something, doesn't mean you might be good at it. It took me a while to figure that out. Growing up with people like my mom and dad, where you were encouraged to constantly experiment, that advice makes sense. But it can't compare to actually watching them live it.
The following are from my faith tradition. In a more general sense, the difference between "free will" and "moral agency" might be illuminated by the difference between a natural right and a natural responsibility.
"Elder Bednar: Mormon Moral Agency - You Are Not Free To Do What You Want" is a video by David A. Bednar. He talks to church members about what moral agency is. It may be helpful to recognize that in our church we make covenants with God and with the church and with others. A covenant is a sacred promise.
"Moral Agency" By Elder D. Todd Christofferson uses the term "free will" and "moral agency".
