Love and Light

Elenyi

Elenyi

Do you remember the movie Meet the Mormons? and David Archuleta's song "Glorious"?

If you liked that song, you might like a Spanish rendition as well: "Glorioso es."

If you liked that one, check out Elenyi's new song "Embarcaos en el Servicio de Dios."

Beautiful!

(And this just in: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and If You Could Hie to Kolob")

Is Freedom in the Bloodstream?

The Living Christ

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

Jesus Christ will someday return to earth (Isaiah 40:5)

An old army saying reminds soldiers in combat that "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."  

But what is the main thing?  As far as faith is concerned, the Prophet Joseph Smith eliminated any doubt as to what the main thing is:

"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it." (TPJS, 121)

The Prophet Joseph Smith

This was true in Joseph Smith's time, and it is true today.  

On January 1, 2000, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets concerning Jesus Christ in a document entitled The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles.  

Like the prophetic document The Family: A Proclamation to the World (published in 1995), The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles was prepared ahead of time for when we will need it most. 

Seven Sources on Chastity

"My strength is as the strength of ten,

Because my heart is pure."

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Sir Galahad

Before his conversion, St. Augustine of Hippo famously prayed, "Give me chastity and continency, only not yet." (The Confessions, Book VIII)  In the fifth canto of Inferno in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Dante the Pilgrim asked Francesca of Rimini how she and her lover were lured into the sin of lust.  Francesca's reply (for the original version in Italian, see below*) caused Dante the Pilgrim to faint out of pity:

"And she to me: ‘There is no greater pain, than to remember happy times in misery, and this your teacher knows. But if you have so great a yearning to understand the first root of our love, I will be like one who weeps and tells. We read, one day, to our delight, of Lancelot and how love constrained him: we were alone and without suspicion. Often those words urged our eyes to meet, and coloured our cheeks, but it was a single moment that undid us. When we read how that lover kissed the beloved smile, he who will never be separated from me, kissed my mouth all trembling. That book was a Galeotto, a pandar, and he who wrote it: that day we read no more.’"

The Circle of the Lustful: Francesca da Rimini ('The Whirlwind of Lovers')

by William Blake

In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord taught:

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (Matt. 5:27-29)

The Beatitudes Sermon, by James Tissot

In His Sermon at the Temple in Bountiful, the Lord reiterated:

"Behold, I give unto you a commandment, that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart" (3 Ne. 12:29)

If a book containing the story of Lancelot and Guivevere plunged the unsuspecting Paolo and Francesca into the second circle of Dante's hell, what might that entail for an entire society whose media, magazines, and mores make Medieval mischief appear immaculate?  If a right eye could offend in 1st century Palestine or Bountiful, what are the implications for a civilization drenched in provacative or pornographic images and themes? 

Here are seven sources on chastity to help us pluck out offending the right eye:

1. Gospel Topics: Chastity / Topical Guide: Chastity, Chaste

2. The Seventh Commandment: A Shield, Elder Neal A. Maxwell

3. Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

4. Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

5. The Lord's Standard of Morality, Elder Tad R. Callister

6. We Believe in Being Chaste, Elder David A. Bednar

7. The Plan of Happiness, President Boyd K. Packer

*

"E quella a me: «Nessun maggior dolore
che ricordarsi del tempo felice
ne la miseria; e ciò sa 'l tuo dottore.

Ma s'a conoscer la prima radice
del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto,
dirò come colui che piange e dice.

Noi leggiavamo un giorno per diletto
di Lancialotto come amor lo strinse;
soli eravamo e sanza alcun sospetto.

Per più fiate li occhi ci sospinse
quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso;
ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse.

Quando leggemmo il disiato riso
esser basciato da cotanto amante,
questi, che mai da me non fia diviso,

la bocca mi basciò tutto tremante.
Galeotto fu 'l libro e chi lo scrisse:
quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante»." (Inferno V:121-138)

  

The Cokeville Miracle

It's not often that a movie moves me to tears.  I'm not really the sentimental type.  The Cokeville Miracle, however, is a good film.  It is spiritually edifying (in some ways reminiscent of the 17th chapter of Third Nephi in the Book of Mormon), and worth watching.  I heartily recommend it.

The Nature of God's Word: Encouragement to Study the Holy Bible

"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." Articles of Faith 1:8

"The nature of God’s word is, that whosoever read it, or hear it reasoned and disputed before him, it will begin immediately to make him every day better and better, till he be grown into a perfect man" (in S. Michael Wilcox, Fire in the Bones: William Tyndale—Martyr, Father of the English Bible [2004], xv).

"This Great Book … is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong (Abraham Lincoln, Speeches and Writings, 1859–1865 [1989], 628)."

"Honest, diligent study of the Bible does make us better and better, and we must ever remember the countless martyrs who knew of its power and who gave their lives that we may be able to find within its words the path to the eternal happiness and the peace of our Heavenly Father’s kingdom." - Elder M. Russell Ballard, The Miracle of the Holy Bible

"There are no people on earth who hold the Bible in such high esteem as we do. We believe it, we read and ponder its sayings, we rejoice in the truths it teaches, and we seek to conform our lives to the divine standard it proclaims." - Elder Bruce R. McConkie, The Bible: A Sealed Book

"We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God." Articles of Faith 1:8

The Profile of a Prophet

President Hugh B. Brown

On October 5, 1955 President Hugh B. Brown delivered a speech at Brigham Young University entitled The Profile of a Prophet.  In this speech, President Brown recounted the story of his interview with a prominent English statesman on the topic of Mormonism.  At the conclusion of the interview, the English gentleman exclaimed:

"Mr. Brown, I wonder if your people appreciate the import of your message. Do you?  If what you have told me is true, it is the greatest message that has come to this earth since the angels announced the birth of Christ."

I recommend this speech to you.

She is Like the Stars

Claudie Fritsch-Mentrop, also known as Desireless, is a French musician whose 1986 song "Voyage, voyage" became a world wide hit. I like many of her songs, but her 1989 song "Elle est comme les étoiles" (with lyrics written by Jean-Michel Franck Riva) just might be my favorite. (see here also)  I couldn't find an English translation of the lyrics online, so I decided to translate it myself:

"She is Like the Stars"

Dedicated to my mother

Some speak to the crowd

Other speak to the desert

Only words flow forth

About the weather about money about war

Some speak of the Orient

And others of the USSR

Of the Bible or the Koran

Of paradise of a quick fix

Some speak of borders

And of hope

My mother

Makes the silence speak.

She is like the stars

She understands it all but says nothing

She is like the stars

She gives her light

And demands nothing in return

Prophets on the front page

Make and unmake destiny

The elected on the platforms

Always have a formula for tomorrow

Some speak of the earth

Of non-violence

My mother

Makes the silence speak.

She is like the stars

She understands it all but says nothing

She is like the stars

She gives her light

And demands nothing in return

Some abandon you

Others come and desire you

But as soon as one loves a man

The most beautiful is impossible to say

Some speak of love of tolerance

My mother

Makes the silence speak.

She is like the stars

She understands it all but says nothing

She is like the stars

She gives her light

And demands nothing in return

En français

"Elle est comme les étoiles"

Dédié à ma mère

Certains parlent à la foule
Et d'autres parlent au désert
Que de paroles s'écoulent
Sur le temps sur l'argent sur la guerre
Certains parlent d'orient
Et d'autres d'URSS
De la bible ou du Coran
De paradis de bonheur express
Certains parl' de frontières
Et d'espérance
Ma mère
Fait parler le silence.

Elle est comme les étoiles
Elle en sait long mais ne dit rien
Elle est comme les étoiles
Elle donne sa lumière
Et ne demande rien

Les prophètes à la une
Font et défont le destin
Les élus sur les tribunes
Ont toujours la formul' pour demain
Certains parl' de la terre
De non-violence
ma mère
Fait parler le silence.

Elle est comme les étoiles
Elle en sait long mais jamais elle ne dit rien
Elle est comme les étoiles
Elle ne demande rien

Certains vous abandonnent
D'autres viennent et vous désirent
Mais sitôt qu'on aime un homme
Le plus beau est impossible à dire
Certains parlent d'amour de tolérance
Ma mère
Fait parler le silence.

Elle est comme les étoiles
Elle en sait long mais jamais elle ne dit rien
Elle est comme les étoiles
Elle ne demande rien

Good Infection

C.S. Lewis

"Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has — by what I call "good infection." Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else."

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity