Happy Cinco De Marcho!
If
you liked the Ensign article I shared last week, get ready, cuz I've
got lots more. Are you all reading church magazines? You ought to be!
Read the Ensign. Maybe read the Liahona, even though I have no clue what
the Liahona is. Have your kids read the Friend. Have your teens read
the New Era. I usually skimmed the New Era when I was younger. I'm sure I
missed a lot of great stuff.
First off is a short but nice story called "The Last Sacrament Cup", December 2015 Ensign. I really like the Isaiah scripture quoted near the end.
Next is "Making Your Young Adult Years Productive", "When Doubts And Questions Arise", and "Satan's Rebellion", all in the March 2015 Ensign. They're all quite good, but I especially like "Satan's Rebellion" because it points out something I've learned a little bit about a while ago and haven't seen talked much of since, which is that Satan's plan wasn't to "force everyone" to follow God's plan; that is speculation, and its touted like it's fact a lot of the time in church culture--"Satan's plan was to force people to be good!"--when that isn't factual at all, and I think it's bunk. The only scriptural source we have says Satan "sought to destroy the agency of man", and I believe the way he sought to do that was by using God's divine power to make it so Good and Evil no longer existed. It talks about this more in the article, and presents the other perspective, but I don't believe one third of the hosts of heaven would have followed a plan wherein they are forced to be good. No one wants to be coerced. But again, it's all speculation because we don't know for sure.
We got to go to a Zion's Youth concert last night at the Smith center with an investigator, performing "Lamb of God". It was really great. I recommend looking up Zion's Youth, they're quite good. Hard to describe music so I won't bother trying but I recommend looking them up!
Not much happening yet with investigators, but I've been thinking these past few days about the value of Eternal Life. We always talk about how families can be together forever. I think only now do I see what that means... Only now do I recognize what a blessing that will be. I love my family--the thought that our best times will continue onward into eternity, that we'll always get to be together and share our experiences forever...it's amazing. It's what I want to achieve. I know it's worth every sacrifice.
Love,
Elder Gallagher
First off is a short but nice story called "The Last Sacrament Cup", December 2015 Ensign. I really like the Isaiah scripture quoted near the end.
Next is "Making Your Young Adult Years Productive", "When Doubts And Questions Arise", and "Satan's Rebellion", all in the March 2015 Ensign. They're all quite good, but I especially like "Satan's Rebellion" because it points out something I've learned a little bit about a while ago and haven't seen talked much of since, which is that Satan's plan wasn't to "force everyone" to follow God's plan; that is speculation, and its touted like it's fact a lot of the time in church culture--"Satan's plan was to force people to be good!"--when that isn't factual at all, and I think it's bunk. The only scriptural source we have says Satan "sought to destroy the agency of man", and I believe the way he sought to do that was by using God's divine power to make it so Good and Evil no longer existed. It talks about this more in the article, and presents the other perspective, but I don't believe one third of the hosts of heaven would have followed a plan wherein they are forced to be good. No one wants to be coerced. But again, it's all speculation because we don't know for sure.
We got to go to a Zion's Youth concert last night at the Smith center with an investigator, performing "Lamb of God". It was really great. I recommend looking up Zion's Youth, they're quite good. Hard to describe music so I won't bother trying but I recommend looking them up!
Not much happening yet with investigators, but I've been thinking these past few days about the value of Eternal Life. We always talk about how families can be together forever. I think only now do I see what that means... Only now do I recognize what a blessing that will be. I love my family--the thought that our best times will continue onward into eternity, that we'll always get to be together and share our experiences forever...it's amazing. It's what I want to achieve. I know it's worth every sacrifice.
Love,
Elder Gallagher
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