Wht's a sin these days?

In the last 20+ years I have noticed what I have grown up learning in Church/ in the bible to be a sin are being more and more excepting in the world.  We all sin...

" Each sin does vary in degree however; murder being on the most severe and grievous end of the spectrum, vanity (let's say) being on the the less severe end.  Now just because we all sin doesn't mean we should accept sin, but we should still love the sinner.  We all need to try to do better and be better, and we shouldn't have to allow sins to be legalized or pretend they aren't sins in order to justify our own choices or the choices of other's.

     I know a lot of people think that if society changes, so does right and wrong, but I'm going to have to disagree. We don't tell God what we want to be considered a sin or not. We don't get to say, "Excuse me, God, I know this is currently considered a sin, but it no longer suits me to have it be a sin, I like it too much and I won't give it up. This other sin too, it more convenient for you to allow me to do it without recourse, so let's change this one too." Nope, God sets the rules and commandments, for our own good mind you, and we are expected to follow what He says.  We follow God, God doesn't follow us.

     So... yes, sorry if it offends you, but that means we still believe that things like homosexuality and abortion (among other things) are sins and are not to just be an accepted thing.  I know that society says it's okay, but God doesn't and He's the boss.  Now before you light that torch and sharpen the ol' pitchfork, keep this in mind; never has the church and its leaders condoned anything but love for those who sin, even the big sins.  It is not intolerance, it is not hatred, we still love those people, we just don't love the sin. 

    When someone commits a crime, generally their family doesn't loose love for them, but they also can't accept or allow the bad behavior of their loved one"
 - Audrey Spencer
I love how Audrey wrote that ^^
With that being said, we all sin differently but instead of rationalizing our sin, we all need to recognize it and try better. 

"God has not abandoned us to get through this life alone..." Modern Prophets?

As I was reading My cousin, Audrey's blog I came across this... 

   

 "You may or may not have noticed that we also believe in latter day prophets and apostles.  If apostles and prophets were important in ancient times, then dare I say, we certainly need them now.  This world is in chaos and we are most certainly in need of prophets who commune with God and direct us.  God has not abandoned us to get through this life alone, He has given us so much direction and so many tools to get through this life, and the apostles and prophets are some of the most important of these tools along with the scriptures, we'd be remiss not to use all that our Heavenly Father has provided for us.

     It's interesting when people say that "all we need is in the Bible", and yet others say "the Bible is an old irrelevant book".  In truth, both are sides are wrong. We need prophets and apostles now to help us navigate this modern world of discord and confusion, but we also need the word of God from long ago.  Many of the words of God were given to us once, we shouldn't disregard them and hope that they will somehow change, because it won't, the Bible is still very relevant, and so are prophets and apostles for modern day revelation." 

 

I LOVE how she says "God has not abandoned us to get through this life alone, He has given us so much direction and so many tools to get through this life"

President Thomas S. Monson

I love this man! If you were to sit down and listen to what he has to say you would KNOW what he has to tell you is true. I believe he is called from God to help lead us in the right direction.

Why would I Believe in the Book Of Mormon?

My cousin, Audrey wrote a blog post that answers this Question ^^ and I know I couldn't have written it better....

The Bible and the Book of Mormon teach the same things, they compliment each other and build upon the same principles, both testifying of Christ.  The Bible contains writings from prophets in and around Jerusalem, while the Book of Mormon contains writing from prophets in the Americas. The Bible gets interpreted so many different ways by so many different people, but the Book of Mormon helps clear that up. If they both teach of Christ and the same principles, then only the interpretation that is in harmony with both books can be the correct one.

       It makes perfect sense to me.  The people spoken of in the bible were not the only ones living on the Earth, and why shouldn't the people living on a distant continent have just as much access to their God, and why wouldn't God bless them with the same knowledge and spiritual opportunities?  

In John 10:16 it says "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must being, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." He will bring all his sheep to the knowledge of Him and He will be shepherd to all of them, not just those around Jerusalem.

      John isn't the only book that shows evidence that the Book of Mormon is a real and true book of scriptures and a testament of Christ, more evidence is found in Ezekial 37:15-17:

15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: 
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

        Two sticks, or books, one for Judah and the children of Israel (the Bible), and one for Joseph and Ephraim (the Book of Mormon), and we are to join them and they are to become one in our hand. We have we've brought the two together and we use them as one.

       In case you are unsure how we came to have the Book or Mormon, let me explain that.   Joseph didn't know which church to join so while reading the Bible, he came across James 1:5, which says: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."  Joseph Smith decided to go to a secluded area of the nearby woods and do just what James said, ask of God.  While there, Joseph was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ.  When Joseph made his inquire about which church to join, he was informed that he should join none of the churches.  After several angelic visits, he was guided to a hill where he found the gold plates on which the records had been written and later hidden, not to be seen again until Joseph was directed to them.  Years later Joseph was given the opportunity to finally begin translating the records, and they are what we now know as The Book of Mormon. 

            Okay, so a couple things here; first of all, many try to claim that Joseph Smith made it all up, but that makes no sense.  Joseph Smith had a... 3rd grade education I believe, and was not good at reading and writing, so how could he come up with the incredible writings found in the Book of Mormon? The style of writing and language is also far from something that Joseph could logically come up with.  Furthermore, Joseph suffered greatly for his claims and beliefs, he had nothing to gain from telling a tall tale, he was tortured, imprisons, hated, persecuted, and eventually killed for his beliefs, but he never once denied the truthfulness of it all.

      Second, I was a teenager once, I've known many teenagers in my life, and I've never known any that would hold to a lie so tightly as to make their lives miserable by doing so.  Yes, I've known liars, yes lots of kids lie, but when faced with incredible opposition those lies fall apart and stories change.  Joseph Smith's story didn't change, he feared changing his story and offending God more than making the people that hated him happy and removing the trial from his life, and he this was just when was still a kid. Not to mention, the story is too good to be made up by a kid, let alone a kid with little education.

Have you read the Book of Mormon to find out if it's true? I have and know the history of it. I can testify that it is an other testament of Jesus Chris.