Scripture Blog

This weblog is my personal online scripture journal. I try to read the scriptures each morning as I exercise on my cross-trainer. It has a great impact on my life and my testimony of the Savior and his restored church. The journal is really for my own benefit but I have set it up as a web log in hopes to benefit anyone else that may be interested. "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost..." 1 Nephi 10:19

Friday, May 31, 2024

Elder Quentine L. Cook - Be One with Christ

 Elder Cook began with - 

"...In the Savior’s petition to His Father, He pleaded “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” The Savior then continues, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”5 Oneness is what Christ prayed for prior to His betrayal and Crucifixion. Oneness with Christ and our Heavenly Father can be obtained through the Savior’s Atonement."

"It is significant that all the qualifications for baptism are spiritual. No economic or social attainment is necessary. The poor and the rich have the same spiritual requirements.

There are no race, gender, or ethnicity requirements. The Book of Mormon makes it clear that all are invited to partake of the Lord’s goodness, “black and white, bond and free, male and female; … all are alike unto God.”10 “All men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.”"

"A fundamental doctrine of our faith is that we do have moral agency,18 which includes free will.19 Agency is the ability to choose and act. It is essential to the plan of salvation. Without moral agency, we could not learn, progress, or choose to be one with Christ. Because of moral agency, we “are free to choose liberty and eternal life.”20 In the premortal Council in Heaven, the Father’s plan included agency as an essential element. Lucifer rebelled and “sought to destroy the agency of man.”21 Accordingly, the privilege of having a mortal body was denied to Satan and those who followed him."

Though he specifically noted he was "not advocating less interest in education or occupation."  He did say - 

"The most significant choices can be made by almost everyone regardless of talents, abilities, opportunities, or economic circumstances. An emphasis on putting family choices first is essential. This is clear throughout the scriptures. Think of the account in 1 Nephi where Lehi “departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family.”"