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The Greatest Law

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Love God with thy Whole Heart Now that we’ve established in previous studies a firm understanding of what sin is, why obedience to commandments is necessary, and what our obligation to obey the law of the Lord is, let’s learn what the Lord has commanded us to do or not do. The rest of the study is organized into categories of commandments. Structured in the order that the ten commandments were given to us by God, because the order is significant. The order establishes a foundation upon which each additional command rests. To begin in order, we must give great deference to what has been taught as the greatest of all the commandments. When Moses was asked what was the greatest commandment in the law, he answered the question in Deuteronomy 6. He wrote: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt...
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Why Commandments Matter?

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The Purposes of God's Commandments in Christian Teaching: 1) The commandments reveal the Character of God and his will and expectations (standards) for humanity. 2) They serve as a summary of God's will for how to live in a way that pleases Him and brings peace to others. As we follow his commandments, we receive blessings in our lives and protection from the pitfalls of this fallen world. 3) As we learn God's will, through his commandments, we become aware of our sins and our human weakness. We feel convicted for our sins. Godly sorrow moves us to repentance and reliance upon the powers of Christ's atoning sacrifice to justify us before God. 4) Sincere believers who love God and strive to be obedient to the Commandments of God become aware of their inability to achieve righteousness on their own. Humbled, they seek more earnestly the strength of the Lord as they endeavor to follow him. Living Water: The Words of Christ 5) Life long disciples of Christ demonstrates that...
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What is Sin?

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As Christians we praise God for our redemption from sin, but do we KNOW what sin is and do know when we sin? Do we know that we are supposed to forsake sin? Do we hate sin and love righteousness? Do we know how to forsake sin and become saints through Christ? Do we even believe it is possible? Sin is rampant in our times and sadly not just among the non-believers. It is apparent that in a nation where a majority profess belief in Christ the fruits of the faith are in short supply. In fact, the rise of non-believers in our society is a natural result of the inattention of Christians to the adherence of their faith in past generations, and the further decline of our civilization will not halt so long as the believers remain in sin. It’s for this reason that I believe our scripture study of the commandments must begin with a study of key concepts related to sin and obedience; sinfulness and righteousness. Let’s start this study defining some key questions: What is sin? What is being sinfu...
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Covenant KEEPERS: The Commandments

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The next scripture study we will do with our WOMEN WHO KNOW study group, will focus on gaining a greater depth of understanding of the commandments. When we enter the waters of baptism, we covenant that we will keep the commandments. We make the same solemn covenant in the temple. We are taught that we must keep the commandments to gain eternal life, and that in the keeping of our covenants the power of godliness is made manifest. So, as covenant members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do we have a full understanding of what it means to keep the commandments? Do we know what the commandments are? Do we understand the way that God has provided for us to be obedient in all these things? These are the questions that we will seek greater light and knowledge on in our next study. Here is how the study will work: I did this specific study in 2023 and prepared material from this study to share at my Facebook group Daily Manna at that time. This study will draw from my own ...
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Hulu Grossly Disparages the Sacred Beliefs of Latter-day Saint Women: Cashes In On Deceptive Salacious Portrait of “Mormon” Wives

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Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known colloquially as Mormons) have quietly endured the pop culture slurs and the malignment of our religion in popular entertainment for decades. Probably because it has been a constant in our lives and the lives of our ancestors for many generations, and because we believe in following Christ who taught us to turn the other cheek and to be peacemakers. Generally I am little bothered by the passing jokes in media and the quirky ill informed caricatures in entertainment. My reaction is to Ignore the ignorant slights and focus on what matters most in my day to day life. From the most noted pop culture distortion of our religion, the Book of Mormon play on Broadway, to the many small jabs and jokes that disparage our religion throughout popular entertainment, I’ve never taken time to respond in any direct way. Recently Hulu announced a show called, “ The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives ,” with the trailer displaying swinging twerki...
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Satan Out, Christ In!

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Rebuking Satan and discerning the Lord’s Voice from Satan and the voices of the world. The first application of the atonement we will study and discuss requires that we recognize the voice of the Lord and discern what voices are of the devil. Once we can discern what is of the devil we can use the power of Christ to command the devil to leave us. The Lies of Satan “Whenever the adversary cannot persuade imperfect yet striving Saints such as you to abandon your belief in a personal and loving God, he employs a vicious campaign to put as much distance as possible between you and God… he will seek access to your heart to tell you lies—lies that Heavenly Father is disappointed in you, that the Atonement is beyond your reach, that there is no point in even trying, that everyone else is better than you, that you are unworthy, and a thousand variations of that same evil theme.” “As long as you allow these voices to chisel away at your soul, you can’t approach the throne of God with real confi...
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In Conclusion of our Study of The Commandments

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We’ve come to the end of this study and thorough examination of the commandments of God and His expectations of our obedience to them. We have looked at the consequences of keeping the commandments and rebellion against them, but at the center of all is the principle of love for God, for as Christ has said: “If ye love me keep my commandments.” — John 14:15 I love the word keep in this scripture. Keep means “to have and retain possession of something.” We have been given God’s commandments as a precious gift, and he wants us to possess them, to retain them, for them to become part of us. To keep call also mean: “cause to continue in a specified course.” Is this not what the commandments to for us when we make them the guide by which we live, when we are diligent in our striving to obey them? Another definition of keep is: “continue doing or do repeatedly or habitually.” As we keep his commandments, the living of them becomes habitual until we become as He intends us to be, even as He i...
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