Hello all,
Preparation day has changed to Wednesday. The MTC is changing to accomodate the soon to be massive influx that will happen as all of the graduating seniors start flooding in.
How are all of you doing? How has life been? What have been your greatest successes and greatest challenges since we've spoken last? While life here after 6 weeks gets pretty routine, there are a lot of really cool things that happen here all the time. The devotionals are always amazing. Classtimes are consistently frustrating as I try to master a tonal language, but rewarding when you finally "get it". I'm currently working on memorizing the words of the prophet Joseph Smith for his First Vision, in which he saw God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Because it's tonal, it's sounds like I'm singing a song as I rehearse it.
My biggest obsession right now is really trying to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ in a greater sense.Some words I would encourage all of you to look up and pray for understanding are , Salvation, Justification and Sanctification.
If you can understand these basic terms of the Atonement, it will create a greater understanding of the Grace and Mercy extended to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I'll tell you my basic understanding of these terms, and would encourage you all to turn to the scriptures and study it out.
Salvation -
Salvation from phyisical death is a free gift given to all through Christ being ressurected from the dead. But we have to accept this gift through faith.
Justification -
Because God's laws are eternal and unchanging and have no room for error, our actions must be justified (made to be correct before the law of God). Justification comes through faith in Christ, because He has already paid the penalty of our sins, He is able to act as our advocate to the Father and jsutify our deeds if we have faith and belive on him.
Sanctification -
Sanctification is the act of cleansing us from our sin, through Christ's blood, we are able to be washed of our sins through repentance. After we repent of our sins and become converted unto His gospel, we are baptised unto repentance. This baptism is a symbolism of death (as we are burried in the water) and ressurection (as we come up out of the water) following the pattern of the crucifiction, death and ressurection of Christ. As we continually repent of our sins and our imperfections we are continuosly cleansed as we renew our covenants as we partake of the sacrament as instituted by Christ in his last supper.
I wish to make a small disclaimer, while many people may associate faith with just belief, faith is so much more. Faith comes from acting on belief and receiving a witness of the doctrine through our obedience. Salvation doesn't come through belief, it comes through having faith and continuosly exercising it. Through our faith we can recieve Salvation, Justification and Sanctification by way of the great and wonderful sacrifice of our brother Jesus Christ.
I miss you and love you,
An Uncommon Elder
Elder Timothy Scott Ryan