Virtute.org

I thought I might experiment with putting some of my thoughts from my study out on the blog.  I don’t know if this will be a frequent practice or not, but I think maybe writing out what I’m thinking will be helpful.  I hope it doesn’t seem preachy; my intent is to just sort my thoughts out and maybe start some discussion. 

We had Elder Wood of the Seventy for our Stake Conference this week, and I was very moved by the talks he gave and the scriptures he shared.  My notes led me tonight to Ephesians 4, most commonly cited for its support of the 6th Article of Faith.  There are some critical key phrases here for the times we live in, however: “vanity of their mind”, “understanding darkened”, “ignorance”, “blinded”, “alienated”, “past feeling”, “deceitful lusts”. 

How much of that can apply to the response to the church’s support of Proposition 8?  And for our part, how do we respond?  See verses 31 and 32:

31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and ^aanger, and clamour, and ^bevil ^cspeaking, be put away from you, with all ^dmalice: 
32 And be ye ^akind one to another, tenderhearted, ^bforgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

I’ve always found the doctrine in the epistles comes thick and fast.  I have to slow down my reading and think about one small section at a time.  Taken as a whole, though, Ephesians 4 and 5 have some of the finest instruction on how to be a good Saint in the middle of the culture war. 

The other part of Ephesians 4 that relates directly to the Prop 8 controversy regards the familiar verses, 11-14.  We’re blessed to have men like President Monson, who stands as a watchmen to lift a warning voice.  Thus we’re not “. . .carried about with every wind of doctrine. . .”, but we have a prophet who “. . .[speaks] the truth in love. . .”

I may have some thoughts from my notes about the word “temperance” in the future. 

I’d welcome any comments or discussion.