fireside notes

We went to a really awesome fireside tonight up at the temple visitor's center, and I wanted to share my notes with you all. The speaker was Elder Clayton M. Christensen from the Seventy, who is also a professor up at Harvard. We went, in particular, because one of Adam's mission companions was his son. Elder Christensen has also written articles for the Ensign (the most recent was in Feb. 2007) - they're really excellent.

Anyway, the fireside really made me think a lot, and one of my thoughts was that I should post my notes on the blog for everyone to see. I hope you can get something out of them as well.

Overview: If we try to obey and gain a testimony of the commandments by focusing on them one at a time (tithing, geneology, etc.), they can be difficult or onerous. If we get to know the author of the commandments and the gospel - Christ - the commandments as a whole become easier to obey, less of a chore, and more of a joy. Some ideas on getting to know Christ (that, quite frankly, had never really occurred to me in this context) ...

1 - Teach about Christ. Focus more on Christ when teaching in church meetings, in the home, etc. Every sermon in the Book of Mormon - no matter what it's about - has the core of teaching about the Atonement and that salvation comes only through Christ.

2 - Introduce people to Christ. (He didn't say specifically that we should set a date, but the examples he gave all involved setting a date. Set a date to have the missionaries teach someone in your home.)

3 - Love and forgive as Christ loves and forgives. Forget the sin - focus on the present/future. Satan tries to trap people by holding the sin over your head, telling them that they can never repent, focusing on what they have done in the past by perpetuating the feelings of guilt and unworthiness. Christ lets it go, and focuses on the future and getting beyond all of that.

4 - Serve like Christ served - by focusing on the individual. Christ's sermons to the masses were very few compared to the stories in the scriptures of how He took the time to focus on people one at a time. Focus on blessing others within the context and talents that you've been given.

Two other thing that he discussed, in the midst of his 4 points, was how to really focus on studying the scriptures, and what to include in prayer.

Scriptures:
1 - Pray before beginning to read for the Spirit to instruct you in getting answers to whatever questions you have at the time.
2 - Read.
3 - Write a rough draft of your answers that the Spirit gave you. (Thoughts and impressions that came as you were reading.)
4 - Pray again to discuss/clarify your answers.
5 - Read the same scriptures again.
6 - More writing - revise your answers as further thoughts come.
7 - Pray again to know that what you've read is true.

Prayer:
1 - Before you begin prayer, ponder how the Lord has blessed you and shows His love for you.
2 - When you are praying, expressing intent (i.e. "real intent" in Moroni 10:4) is to tell the Lord what you intend to do with the answers He gives you.

Conclusion: Our calling is to be a Christian - to be Christ's hands, doers of the Word.

I definitely have more pondering to do about all of this, and some things to discuss with Adam. But I wanted to get this all out to everyone while it was still fresh. Enjoy!!