Converted to Christ

The stories of the seed of faith and the rod of iron found in the Book of Mormon represent the spiritual change necessary to qualify one to live with God forever. Alma teaches that everyone must plant within his or her heart the word of God. This insemination causes an enlargement of the soul, an illumination, an understanding, and a change of desires. The continual care of the growing faith brings forth fruit, described as white, pure, and satisfying. This fruit is a representation of the results of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives (http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/heavenly-father-s-plan-of-happiness/the-atonement-of-jesus-christ). We become like the fruit: full of light, pure, and spiritually satisfied (see The Book of Mormon, Alma 32, p. 288).

Lehi's dream illustrates a similar analogy. The rod of iron is a symbol of the surety of the word of God. It is a steady guide to the tree of life which is brimming with a white, pure, satisfying fruit. Nephi teaches that this fruit is the love of God and the greatest joy the soul can experience. Several verses later, Nephi is brought to Jesus' day and sees Christ healing a multitude of afflicted people. Nephi saw the power of the Atonement heal every kind of infirmity. Both Nephi and Alma illustrate with their analogies that the word of God leads us to develop faith enough in the Savior to use His Atonement for salvation. This daily process of being saved includes receiving healing from experiences that cause us pain including inabilities, sins, offenses from others, and natural forces. We can only be healed, however, if we go to the tree and receive the fruit. We follow the words of God in order to experience the changes that are conducive to immediate and eternal joy.

Words lead to thoughts; thoughts lead to actions. As we influence our thoughts with good words, our actions are also directly influenced. The scriptures teach that the power of the Christ’s words is greater than any motivator for change, including physical force (Alma 31:5, http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/31). As we increase our understanding of God and His relationship with man, our faith in God's power increases. Our actions change as we act in accordance with what He commands, knowing that the results will benefit us. This change is called repentance. The missionary study guide Preach My Gospel states that repentance is "making the necessary changes to bring [our] live[s] into agreement with [the teachings of Christ]” (p. 2), a "change [of] thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are not in harmony with His will” (p. 63), and "a spiritual process that involves humility, confession, restitution, and turning away from sin” (p. 187). (See Preach my Gospel, http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,8057-1-4424-1,00.html). Our actions reflect this change of heart by our doing all that God commands us to do.

Alma sums this process of conversion in the fifth chapter of Alma. He teaches, "And according to his faith there was a mighty ^achange wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true. And behold, he ^apreached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their ^btrust in the true and ^cliving God. And behold, they were faithful until the ^dend; therefore they were saved" (The Book of Mormon, Alma 5:12-13, p. 218, http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/5). We too can be saved as we apply the word of God into our lives, make sacred promises with God through His power, and continue faithful to the end of our lives. As we do this, we experience the change described by Alma and Lehi. We become clean, pure, and spiritually satisfied.

Each of us has the opportunity to help others experiences the sweetness of the fruit of Jesus Christ's Atonement as we share with them the word of God. Through the witness of modern prophets such as Joseph Smith, we understand that God gives us His words in our day as in ancient days. We can come to know that this is true by reading a book called the Book of Mormon. This book contains another witness of the reality of Jesus Christ as our Savior. As we read the Book of Mormon, we are given power to increase in our faith, repent, and take all of the necessary steps to return to live with God. Those who have received the Book of Mormon and know of its truth can share it with others in order to help them also receive the blessings of Jesus Christ in their lives. They too can feel the power of God helping them change through the Savior's power. We then become instruments in bringing others to Christ by inviting them to partake of His word and receive of His salvation.

Facebook

The first time I got on Facebook was after my mission. I remember feeling like a stalker going through the photos of some friends that I hadn't seen since high school. I felt like I was looking through the front window into the living room of their personal lives. Although I had been given permission in a sense, I still felt like I was invading the privacy of another person. It felt overwhelming to realize that everyone on the planet could potentially find my name, look at the picture of me in fourth grade with my pet turtle, and analyze all that I am based on what they see. Like Megan noted in her post, the self-promotion of social networking can seem so shallow. Now I realize that it can serve a bigger purpose than that. Just as easy as it is for someone to search my picture of me with my pet turtle, they can also see that I am a practicing member of the Church. They can see pictures of me with my family, living a chaste life, and serving others. They can see applications relating to General Conference or President Monson. This power to persuade through simply publishing who I am is a tool that I have not used to its full capability.

Last semester I was an intern in Washington DC and I became friends with some wonderful people. I gave several of them copies of the Book of Mormon and have since wondered how I would be able to stay in contact with them in case they have questions or concerns. Hello! Facebook! I am adding them tonight and I hope that we can continue our gospel conversation via the Internet. One of my friends said to me when I gave him a Book of Mormon, "You can come back out to DC when I get converted." I hope to take him up on that.

Wikipedia

I never really sat down and thought about how amazing Wiki sights really are. Anyone can come online and add their knowledge to the Wiki world. It is just as easy for a PhD in physics to add information on the speed of light as it is for a 14 year old boy to add his expertise on Star Wars. I recently explored the website for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and found that information on the Relief Society was not up to date. During the General Relief Society Meeting in September 2009, Sister Julie B. Beck announced that the Family, Home and Enrichment Meetings would now be called simply Relief Society Meetings. The Wikipedia page did not reflect this change, so I edited the page and added the reference to Sister Beck's talk.

Social Media

I feel like when I got back from serving an LDS mission, the entire social media world had exploded, and I was left clueless. Since then, I have successfully created my own blog, I log on to facebook occasionally, but I still don't completely know what it means to Twitter. I'll admit that in the past I have been skeptical of using social media, but I am coming to see how this tool can be used to share the gospel on a large scale. I'm here to learn!