Why Home Teaching Should be Less then 30 minutes

I have heard over the years to keep home teaching between fifteen and thirty minutes.  I usually disagreed.  I am now doing an about face!  Here is my reasoning.  In any given home teaching relationship there are four main participants and perhaps others.  First, let's take the home teaching family.  Let's assume it is a couple.  The issue is time.  Each spouse will be different regarding how he or she is using his or her time.  There might be a few people that have huge amounts of time but I would bet that most people are time crunched.  They have more things to do than they have time.  Now, the same goes for the home teacher.  He may or may not have a lot of time for home teaching.  His wife needs to be taken into the picture as well.  Even if he feels he can spend the time, does she really need him home to do other activities (family time, chores, etc.)?  Whose time is more valuable? Is the home teaching program more valuable than other time related things that need to be done?  The answer is no.  Time is precious and each person will value the way he or she uses his or her time differently.  We can't judge this.

With all this in mind, with all the people involved, with every one's different schedules involved, with every one's different time prioritizations, home teaching should be a fifteen to thirty minute event.

Q: What if the person is lonely and needs longer visits?
A: I no longer believe this is in the scope of the monthly home teaching visit.  This is because of all the reasons stated above.  Of course, we should always follow the injunction in James 1, that true religion, undefiled is to visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction.  The lonely person may require more visits, etc.  But, nobody should be required to run faster than he has strength (Mosiah 4:27).  This need, I believe, should be taken off line and discussed by the home teachers.  Perhaps the solution will need to be at a different level, especially if both home teachers have huge time constraints.  Perhaps sacrifices will be made and there will be more visits (but, not the official home teaching visit).  And, perhaps assignments will need to change to meet the needs of each person involved.

Regarding the Church and its Decisions

Regarding the Church and its Decisions

The relationship between the Church and the gospel is an interesting one.  It is hard for individuals to discern light and darkness when we are too close to the issues at hand. The Church wants to keep the body of Christ pure, and not do the following, “and yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did receive all manner of wickedness, and did administer that which was sacred unto him to whom it had been forbidden because of unworthiness.”  (4 N. 1:27) Ultimately, I believe this to be one of the reasons why the Church made its decision.  It is a good reason.  Protecting the children from conflict is good.  People in open rebellion or apostasy not being able to bless and baptize their children into the Church of their fathers, now that upsets everyone that is fence sitting or has fallen (succumbed?) to the manipulations by the powers controlling what America is supposed to think.  Golly, we should very disturbed that vote by the people against same sex marriage in several States has been trampled upon.  We should be very disturbed that Congress wasn’t deferred to by the Supreme Court to start new amendment proceedings to enact legislation to create a new protected class.

Alma 46:7 “And there were many in the church who believed in the flattering words of Amalickiah, therefore they dissented even from the church; and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi exceedingly precarious and dangerous,…“  Members of the church have never been immune to following after the Amalickiah’s of the world.

It always boils down to testimony.  A strong testimony requires that the Spirit is with us, that we are connected to God, that spiritual experiences are happening in our lives, that we have pondered and prayed about “the matter” (whatever the issue is) and have received our own witness from God regarding “the matter”.  One who doesn’t do these things is ripe for darkened mind syndrome.  I just coined that!

Ponder and Memorize D&C 93:20

D&C 93:20  For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.

So, it takes time to receive a fulness.  Jesus, in earlier verses received a fulness, over time.  If I were to tie 'keep the commandments' to 'therefore, ..., you shall receive grace for grace', the Lord seems to be saying that it will ultimately be by His grace that we will be able to progress.  So, how might this work?  What is receiving grace for grace?  Perhaps we receive His grace (the strengthening power of the atonement) to overcome a weakness that we have had our whole life.  God graces us with the ability to make that weakness a strength unto us.  We deny not that this change occurred only through God's power.  We have just received grace (or a grace). Because we received the first grace, we are then given another grace to overcome the next area of weakness.  Is this receiving grace for grace?  This is how we are able to keep each of Christ's commandments.  They are impossible to keep otherwise.

So, ask God what commandment He wants (commands) you to work on and work on it relying solely on His merits (grace).  Once you experience success you will be given another commandment through the Holy Ghost.  Your progression has now started!

Redefining Faith and Hope

I’ve been toying with a new definition of faith (among faith’s multi-faceted-ness).  Faith is believing that Christ did what he did and because He did what he did, we can trust in Him in all things.  Hope comes from faith, that the future will bend away from the natural order of things.  Hope in a resurrection goes against the natural order of things.  Hope that miracles are strategically placed in front of a wayward child to cause maximum probability is bending the natural order.  Our charity demonstrates our faith in Christ.  Charity requires faith because it declares that we believe and are willing to be meek.  Meekness is a state of egoless-ness or having cast off the natural man.  When one has charity one can’t be easily provoked.  We see the evil (slander, etc.) come our direction but see clearly that no response is the best response.  We see that the person dishing out the injustice is acting from an unconscious state and it means nothing about us.

This is what I am working on.  And it requires grace.  There is no way for me to get this down on my own.

Ponderize - Week 2 - Helaman 3:23

Ponderize - Week 2 - Helaman 3:23

Now this is an impressive verse of scripture:

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

How does one wax stronger and stronger in their humility? To me this might mean that, over time, when the offence occurs, whatever it may be, I no longer react in the same negative way as I used to.  I have become ego-less, having cast of the natural man.  To be in such a state would be wonderful, wouldn't it?  Why would this fill our souls with joy and consolation?  When we diminish our egos God fills our souls with joy.  We have turned off our automatic response mechanism, the thing that continuously refuels the natural man within us.  That is a goal worth working toward!

Ponderize - Alma 58:11

Ponderize - Alma 58:11

Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.

This verse of scripture sums up how the Lord helps all people who believe in Him and are trying to become like Him.  The Lord gives assurances through the Spirit that He is aware of us.  This peace that enters our souls causes our faith to increase.  We then are able to focus our hope on Jesus for deliverance from whatever we are struggling with.

This is how it works every time.  The Lord does not vary in his promises.  Assurances, peace, faith and hope.  When I humble myself and walk meekly, asking for what I stand in need off, this pattern starts happening.  I sometimes have to go through a trial of my faith which requires great patience and waiting on the Lord.

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Faith, Assurances and the Mind

I have been pondering faith.  If it has to with the mind and how we choose to view things.  If I trust in God that things will work out and that He is watching over me aren’t I constructing in my mind a positive faith view of the matter?  If I go negative or if others tell me that I am wrong and I believe them, aren’t I letting go of the trust that I once had?  I ask and wait.  On top of all that I choose to have charity.  There’s something about helping others that pleases God.  I also become more receptive to inspiration.  I receive assurances as well that God is there and watching over me.  I am under grace.  I really like Alma 58:11.