Subject Statements

Family- Learning about the family and how the Churches most important leaders look at it has directly affected how I treat and look at my family. I feel that the family is the strongest support unit on earth. I also know that while some of your most joyful moments in life will come because of your family, some of the most difficult trials will also come. We need to do as F. Burton Howard said and “treat it differently.” The family is a huge responsibility, it is a commandment of God to multiply and replenish the earth. I feel when we take this responsibility seriously we will truly see the blessing in our lives.

Atonement- For me the whole subject of the atonement to help us realize we will make mistakes and there is someone who can help us repent of those mistake. The biggest thing we need to overcome is to humble ourselves enough to receive help from someone else. I feel the Lord knew we would be lonely at times in this world, and that’s why he gave us a savoir who will love us unconditionally no matter what we do. The atonement gives hope to all the make the changes in their lives that will get them back on the path to our heavenly father.

Agency- We are free to choose, but no choice comes without consequence, be it good or bad, we will have to pay the price of our choice. Heavenly Father gave us agency so we may learn and fail. As parents we must give our children agency so they too can learn and grow just like our Father in Heaven planned for us. Richard G. Scott said, “Choosing what the Lord wants us to do will always lead to the best outcome” Sometimes we make things harder because we use our agency to follow Satan. Satan didn’t want us to have agency at all, so for me to see his just that agency as a justification to follow his ways seems very contradictory to me.

Pornography- Without doubt pornography is one of the most damaging practices a man or woman can get into. There have been countless warnings about its damaging spirit depriving effects. Unlike other harmful things we may introduce into our bodies, Drugs, Alcohol, unclean foods, our bodies can’t rid themselves of these damaging images. God has given us the ability to enjoy loving and sexual relations with our eternal companions, but when pornography is involved it impairs your ability to have a normal emotional and physical relationship.  It is best to avoid it completely then have to deal with the addictive power of pornography. We are choosing a dangerous path to selfishness when we participate in pornography.

Temple- The Temple is the one place on earth I feel the most peace and joy. The Temple brings me a sense of positive out look and hopeful thinking for the future of my family. The most important thing we can do to make sure the importance of the temple doesn’t leave our minds or hearts is to visit the temple often. The temple is only good to us as members if we take the time out of our life and dedicate ourselves to attending the temple. The other thing we need to remember is our Homes can be like a temple as well as our bodies. If we hold the high standards of the temple on our home as well as our body there will be no unclean thing entering.

Entitlement- As a entitled member of the church, one might the responsibilities we have to serve one another. Selfishness and entitlement are similar traits. When you are entitled you feel you are better then others. All of the blessings we receive come from God, and thinking we deserve more of better blessing will take the spirit away from your life. A entitled person will usually blame others for things going wrong rather then take ownership. While you don’t hear a lot from the apostles on the subject of entitlement, you have hear,  “Thou shalt no covet”. When we think we deserve all that someone else may have we introduced negative feelings into our life.  James E. Faust said, “We torture our souls when we focus on getting rather than giving.

Idleness- Idleness can take many forms. For Example, sitting around your house all day playing video games is being idle. Speaking on behalf of our religion but not taking the necessary actions to live it is also being idle. We have been taught often, that hard work is a blessing of God. Hard things sometimes deter us from even trying but we are also taught that our weaknesses will become strengths through our Heavenly Father. When we work hard for a good cause, we bring a sense of self worth to our lives. Whatever point we are in our lives we need to continue to work, when we become idle we are subject to fears and doubts.  Hard work is the answer for a lot of problems and will cure both mental and physical afflictions. The worst thing you can do is to quit and become idle.

Finances- Live within your means, do not go into debt and save as much as you can for a rainy day. These are three simple principles that our general authority has taught about finances. We need to prepare for our future, it is our responsibility. The law of tithing not only help the Church, it helps the individual. The law of tithing teaches obedience. When it comes to finances debt is the number one problem, but many people have an entitled feeling that leads them down this path of debt. If we create a positive plan with our money we will produce good results. If we ignore or have a negative outlook on finances we will have negative results with our finances.