Death and Rebirth: Easter Ponderings

So, Palm Sunday I didn't feel well. Actually, for several days before that I wasn't feeling very good: stress headaches, migraines, insomnia followed by nightmares... my emotions clearly had the upper hand, and I was quietly freaking right out, which is not my norm; my best friend once laughingly observed that I tend to be "a drama-free zone". And I do try. But last week I had drama enough that it made me ill.

So Palm Sunday. One of the things about a lay clergy is that sometimes everything is beautiful and perfect, and other times we get to exercise charity and patience. Don't get me wrong; the talks were excellent: one even successfully managed to relate fishing for eel in New Zealand rivers to following the prophet and the Lord; outstanding talk, the kind that people will remember and benefit from for a long time. But every speaker overlooked that it was Palm Sunday; it wasn't mentioned until the classes after Sacrament Meeting. And I was so hungry for a deep dive into the Atonement of Christ; I needed His healing: it had been a tough week --and the next day I was going to dig up my basement.

It felt like breaking my sanctuary: if life is like tag, my home is "safe". Only, it didn't feel very "safe" anymore. It felt broken. That's what I would tell people: "We're breaking the basement."

"I hope your week is less interesting than mine," I said to the guy at the rental place where we got the concrete saw and the mini jackhammer they called a "breaker" (that saw was HUGE). And he laughed, which was the intended effect. But I was whistling in the dark: it wasn't really funny to me. I was trying to put the best face on something that pulled me way out of my comfort zone.

Repentence and Conversion

When I came home from Japan, I was surprised by a prompting to do the Come Follow Me readings in Japanese, and then even more surprised to realize how much Japanese I learned reading the Book of Mormon for the challenge from President Nelson: the first chapter I read wasn't half as hard as I'd expected: I have to read it from a paper edition, which means no copy and paste into my dictionary, because it's not in the Gospel Library app (I assume there's some copyright issue; that's typically why stuff like this happens).

So, I'm cruising along, reading in Matthew 13: the Parable of the Sower. That explanation in the middle has always seemed odd to me: "lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."

And I noticed two things:

First, the Japanese makes the cause-effect relationship more apparent than the English: the people close their own eyes, they close their own ears, and their own hearts for the purpose that they won't have to repent.

And Second --wait. I didn't remember the word "repent" being in this passage. When I looked at the English, I realized that I don't remember that word being there because... it's not. In English, it says "lest... [they] should be converted, and I should heal them." But the Japanese word here is 悔い改める。I learned to recognize it as "repent" in my Book of Mormon reading, and that's what it says if you look it up in my dictionary. But it's a compound:

悔 -- repent/regret
改 -- reformation/change/modify/renew

I can see how it could have both meanings, and that's a whole new way of looking at conversion for me. I've always thought about repenting as a sort of "I'm sorry" process that we go through with the Lord, followed by change. But this word unifies those two aspects into a single concept, a single verb.

I wondered if there was anywhere else that the words repent and conversion were used interchangeably in Japanese. Surprisingly, there's not a lot of places in the New Testament where you find the word "conversion": only 8. In addition to looking at the Japanese, it would be really interesting to use Strong's Concordance to look at the Greek roots of these words, but I'm so slow at the Japanese that there's no way that I can do that tonight.

It's the Same (but different) in Japanese

President Nelson asked us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, and I was a touch sad, thinking, "There is no way that I'm going to be able to do that in Japanese. Not that fast."

I've been studying Japanese for years, and 2 or 3 years ago, I started reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese. It was hard, much harder than reading the Spanish I did ages ago: there are no cognates. And while everyday Japanese is full of English loan words, the Book of Mormon just is not. So progress was slow: in the beginning I often read less than a single verse in a sitting. I'd worked up to where, on a good day, I could read around 10 verses. I think that my personal best, prior to Conference, was somewhere around 12 verses in a day.

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English: 
...but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hands...

Japanese:
They do not stop their eyes on the works of the Lord's hand.
-2 Nephi 15:12 (Compare Isaiah 5:12)

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So President Nelson asks us to read, and I figure I'm going to have to take a break and go back to English for a while. This is disappointing: I've worked so hard, and I'm afraid that if I break my streak I'll lose ground.

"There is no way that I'm going to be able to do that in Japanese. Not that fast."
Then, the Little Voice:

"Well, actually...."

That's all he said.
I took the plunge.
That day, I read 1 Nephi 1, the whole chapter.
I was so happy with myself. Personal best!

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English:
[Him] who should come to redeem His people from their sins.

Japanese:
that Honorable One who will certainly come to redeem His own people from
(away from) their sins.
-Alma 5:21

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The next day I looked at a schedule and realized how inadequate a pace 1 chapter a day is. Most days, my list calls for about three chapters. Some days I did it, but I started to fall behind. That's a lot of reading, and the fact is, I'm not that good at Japanese. So many words! A new language just has an unbelievable number of words and phrases that you need to recognize in order to be able to read. I know more than I used to, but...

I kept trying. Slogging along. Losing a little bit of ground every day.
I figured I could catch up with whatever I miss in English in the last week or two of the year.

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English:
For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance...

Japanese: 
The devil's kingdom will certainly shake. To certainly repent, they must be pressed/urged.
-2 Nephi 28:19

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Eventually, I was about 15 days behind, which means somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-45 chapters behind. Last week, I decided to take a day off of school, to try to catch up. I asked the kids for help, and they were amazing. They did all kinds of things independently and for each other, so that I could read. It was so hard. I was tired. My brain was full. And I would take a break, and then come back to it. I read 5 days' worth. It was amazing! I'd never read so much Japanese in a month, prior to the challenge, as what I read that day! And I was also a little bit disappointed: 5 days wasn't enough to really catch up. The date moved too, so I only gained 4 of those 5 days.

The next morning, I woke up with a sore throat and no voice.

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English: 
Thou shalt go before this people, and I will go with thee and deliver this people out of bondage.

Japanese: 
You shall stand at the front/vanguard of this people. I will be with you [this word is often  how they describe friends being with each other] when you go, and rescue out this people from slavery.
-Mosiah 24:17

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No voice meant no school. This was frustrating, because it's so important to keep school going, but there it was: I can't do much with no voice and no energy. Turns out, it was a blessing.

So I sat on the couch and read. We didn't even pretend to do school that day: the kids had a free day, and I read on the couch. I fell asleep, and they did quiet things so I could rest. I made up another 2 days: I was now less than 10 days behind. It was invigorating!

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English:
...and having peace of conscience...

Japanese:
"conscience" is a compound of "good" and "heart":
...having gained tranquility in their good heart...
-Mosiah 4:3

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The next several days, I made up more.
Not much, just one or two extras each day. But it added up.
I began to hope I would make it all the way, in Japanese.

It's a miracle; there's no way that I could do it on my own.
It's too big. Too hard. Too much.

But I really can do all things, even crazy things like read the whole Book of Mormon in another language, in three months, through Christ: the strength to do it is His.

Every day I find little gems. As many times as I have read the Book of Mormon, this is almost like having a whole new book of scripture. (What a blessing that would be, if He gave us more of His words again!) I'm building up quite a collection of things to put in my scripture journal when the reading is done; I'm not even trying to do that right now, just putting in a little tag, since I'm reading on my phone: this lets me listen and read at the same time, and it turns out that I know some words by sight, and others by sound, but when I follow along as the phone reads, then the Holy Ghost helps me remember things, and I am spending less and less time in the dictionary.

It was crazy to try.
I think it's going to actually happen.

I'm so glad I took the leap.
What a blessing this has turned out to be.

And it's not even done, yet.

Agency in God's Plan

Agency is the capacity to choose; it has sometimes also been called free will. Conditions of liberty allow the greatest possible "space" in which to exercise Agency; tyranny, by definition, is the attempt to oppress or repress another person's Agency.

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Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God’s greatest gift to man. … Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. It is inherent in the spirit of man. It is a divine gift. … Whether born in abject poverty or shackled at birth by inherited riches, everyone has this most precious of all life’s endowments—the gift of free agency; man’s inherited and inalienable right.
-David O. McKay, Agency and Responsibility

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In the Church, we tend to prefer the term Agency over free will, and I'd guess the reason for that is that modern scripture uses the term in passages like this one:

On Classical Education: Embodied Learning (part 1)

This post is part of a series:

Character is the True Aim
Cultivation of Godly Character
What is a Student? 
Make Haste Slowly
Much Not Many
Ordered Affections
Repetition is the Mother of Memory
Repetition and the Habit of Attention
Embodied Learning (part 1) {This Post}
Embodied Learning (part 2)
Songs Chants and Jingles
Wonder and Curiosity
Educational Virtues
Contemplation
By Teaching We Learn
Classical Education is Like a Table



Dr. Perrin, in his Embodied Education lecture, starts out by talking about how education is more than just what happens in the mind: education involves our whole being, and the senses are how we take in our experiences. It is more dimensional than the "rational enterprise" that we think of,  because we are more dimensional than that: we are rational, thinking being, certainly, but we are more than just minds. Knowing that education is primarily about character, and about how we go about bridling our passions and ordering our affections, Dr. Perrin asks about environment:

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Think about our classrooms. Think about your university education, you high school education: what were the hallways like? How were the windows? Did you enjoy your desks? They were "great". How about the parking lot? The whole design of our educational institutions, without us even being aware of it, are shaping our expectations, our hopes, and our ideals. Our affections. 
-Dr. Christopher Perrin, Embodied Education

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That's pretty intense. What did your school experience teach you about the way that the world is supposed to work? When he asked about "my" desk, one of the things that I remembered is that I really didn't even have a desk that was mine: I sat in a different desk every hour, and each teacher changed the seating chart whenever they wanted, often without warning. It wasn't malicious; it was just the way things were; part of the mechanics of classroom management. The desks weren't designed to belong to anyone anyway: there was no storage, no way to personalize them short of defacing them, no privacy, no security. They were just hard plastic chairs, screwed into the frame that held up the writing surface, with a little wire frame underneath in case we had "extra" books. Although I have never known a single person who liked those desks well enough to put one in their home, I remember being excited when I was finally "old enough" to use that kind of desk: it was something of a milestone because only the high school students had them.

What kind of values do our educational institutions embody?
What are the values embodied in our homes?
How do the values differ?

Using a Concordance: What is an Oracle?

 

I love the notes on the Hebrew and Greek roots of words you sometimes see in the footnotes of the LDS edition of the Bible. Where those have been included, they almost always add clarity to the meaning of a difficult passage, and I often wished there was more of them.

Then I discovered Strong's Concordance.

What they've done with Strong's Concordance is made an index. Of every single word in the entire Bible. And then cross-referenced each and every word with the Greek or Hebrew word it was translated from. So any word that puzzles you, you can trace back into Hebrew for the Old Testament, or Greek for the New Testament, look at its definition and entomology, and see what else it was translated as, and where else it was used.

My oldest and I are reading through a chronological edition of the King James (another magical invention - I'm absolutely loving having it arranged chronologically, rather than the traditional order) and recently we were reading the 28th Psalm:

Words of Christ: Suffer It To Be So

President Nelson gave us a lot to think about this last Conference! I suspect that people are going to be chewing on the things he said and did for quite some time to come. Looking over his Saturday morning talk, Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into our Lives, he gave us a concrete thing to do:

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"...consecrate a portion of [our] time each week to study everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the standard works... let the scriptural citations about Jesus Christ in the Topical Guide become [our] personal core curriculum."

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I was half toying with adding a red letter Bible to my collection, but then it occurred to me: I can do the same thing with my pen, little by little, in the time he's asking for each week, and turn my regular scriptures into a red letter Bible, and by searching out and pondering the things that He says, I'll get a lot more out of it than I would by just buying a book that someone else has already pre-marked. So I started in Matthew.

Reading Scripture Closely

The more time I spend studying the scriptures, the more that I am convinced that there is great benefit and clarity in taking time to read it carefully and closely. The more exactly that our understanding of the gospel aligns with what our Father in Heaven is actually trying to teach, the better off we are. Sloppy thinking leads to sloppy conclusions, and this becomes particularly problematic in gospel contexts. He has given us the power of reason, and expects us to develop the ability to think logically, carefully, and thoroughly, in order to detect fallacious ideas and doctrines: this is one of the ways we can try to avoid being taken in when the doctrines of men are mixed with scripture and passed off as Truth.

Drive Thru History: Bible History {Crew Review}

When we had the opportunity to review Drive Thru History Adventures, my first questions were about theological compatibility, as these are, I believe, Protestant-made materials. I was pleased to find that the Bible History Adventures materials draw on the shared Christian tradition, and that the theological variances between Protestants and Mormons are not an issue in any of the lessons we have done thus far. We have really enjoyed learning about the life of Christ, and the history and geography that relates to His ministry in the Holy Land.  Drive Thru History Adventures also has an Ancient History and an American History course (other Crew members are checking those out). But we've been quite enjoying the Bible History course.

A Testimony of the Bible

Recently, there were some missionaries standing around with an investigator after church, teaching him a discussion. They were talking about the Bible. And, to my dismay, I realized that they were telling the gentleman that it's not as valuable, not as good as, not as important as, not as inspired as the Book of Mormon. I could feel the resistance rising in the man, as they told him that this amazing book of holy writ that he cherishes is... not that important.

I really can't blame the missionaries; they were teaching the same thing that I've heard in numerous Sunday School classes, sacrament meeting talks, and other conversations in the Church over the years: We believe the Bible to be the word of God -- but only as far as it's translated correctly... and it's not very correct: The Book of Mormon is the word of God. It's not an uncommon attitude to encounter in the various classes. Our missionaries are young; they teach investigators the things that we teach our children and our youth. There's a big problem with that in this instance:

This idea that the Bible is "less than" other modern(better) scripture is false doctrine.

Say it again: "We believe the Bible to be the word of God."

Psalm 17: Boldness Before God

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Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
-Psalm 17:1

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This Psalm starts out with a plea for the Lord to "hear the RIGHT": right comes from the Hebrew tsehdek, meaning a national, moral, or legal right, also equity or, figuratively, prosperity. It's translated as "righteousness", "just", or "justice". The entry in Strong's is lengthy and a lot of it is pretty interesting. It comes in a masculine form (tesdeq), used 157 times throughout the Old Testament, and in a feminine form (tsedeqah), used 119 times and found mainly in poetic literature:

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"The first usage of tsedeq is: 'Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgement; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor' (Lev. 19:15); and of tsedaqah is '[Abram] believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness' (Gen. 15:6). ... [there is a] two-fold significance: relational and legal. On the one hand, the relationships among people and of a man to his God can be described as tsedeq, supposing the parties are faithful to each other's expectations. It is a RELATIONAL WORD. ... On the other hand "righteousness" as an abstract or as the LEGAL STATUS of a relationship is also present in the Old Testament. ... The books of Psalms and of the prophets particularly use the sense of "righteousness" as a state... Tsedeq and tsedaqah are legal terms signifying justice in conformity with the legal corpus, the justice of the king as judge, and also the source of justice, God Himself. ... The verbs associated with "righteousness" indicate the practicality of this concept. One judges, deals, sacrifices, and speaks righteously; and one learns, teaches, and pursues after righteousness. Based upon a special relationship with God, the Old Testament saint asked God to deal righteously with him."

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Affected as we all are by the Fall, it's a bold cry, "Hear the right, O Lord", which draws on the covenant relationship of both Israel in general, and of David as king in particular, as he is the author of this Psalm. Like the Old Testament saints, modern saints enjoy a covenant relationship with Deity, entered into in both the waters of baptism and also in the temples. It is the strength of the special relationship -the covenant relationship- that allows saints then and now to approach Deity with such boldness.

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Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
-Psalm 17:1-2

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Equal here, comes from a word that means rectitude or uprightness, adding to this sense of confidence before the Lord that this passage conveys.

Here I am.
I am unafraid of Thy judgement.
Pass sentence on me; you will see that I am upright.

Perhaps it was the David's bold cry Paul was thinking of when he admonished the Hebrews to labor to "enter in to [Christ's] rest" and then went on saying:

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Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 
-Hebrews 4:16

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I love this balance that you see in Paul's writings, between grace and works. It makes perfect sense: if you let these two principles get out of balance with each other, you go too far in either direction, then you actually destroy the need for a Savior: Too much reliance on works is pride. It's the mistaken idea that you can earn heaven. But of course all have fallen short of the glory of God, save Christ alone. None of the rest of us has any hope of ever being able to life the perfect, sinless life necessary to earn exaltation. To the extent that we rely on our works, that we try to earn heaven, we are saying, "I don't need a Savior; I can do this on my own." This hubris is doomed to failure.

On the other hand, if we let our pendulum swing to far to toward grace, and begin to deny the necessity of putting forth our fullest effort, we deny that our works matter. But if our works don't matter, then we are essentially saying that there is no functional difference between goodness and badness. And if there's no difference... there is no need for grace. Denying the necessity of works actually, ironically, destroys grace by making it irrelevant.

Grace and works are opposite principles that define each other: Christ commands us to do the works we've seen Him do -- works are an inescapable part of being Christian. BUT. While it is good and right to do good things, to keep commandments, and all that that entails, each right choice only serves for that instance -- they do not cover those times where we fall short, as we all inevitably do. Thus the absolute dependence on Christ's grace.

This duality between faith and works makes the David's confidence intriguing.

Here I am: search me. I have nothing to fear. 

There's actually several verses about this kind of thing. I collected some of them into a scripture chain:

1 John 4:18 -- Perfect love casts out fear
Moroni 8:16 -- Moroni is bold because he's not afraid
Acts 4:31 -- Boldness comes through the Holy Ghost
Hebrews 10:19 -- Repentance brings boldness
Alma 38:12 -- Boldness, but not overbearance
Hebrews 4:16 -- Approach God boldly through grace
Psalm 17:1-2 -- David is bold because of righteousness

Thinking about all this reminded me of the quote from the Lectures on Faith:

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Let us here observe, that three things are necessary in order than any rational and intelligent being may exercise faith in God unto life and salvation. First, the idea that He actually exists. Secondly, a correct idea of His character, perfections, and attributes. Thirdly, an actual knowledge that the course of life which he is pursuing is according to His will. 

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I think that third point is key: we need to know that we are living in compliance with God's will. This isn't something that's nice for those favored few; this is a thing that each one of God's children needs - hungers for. Interestingly, the scriptures in my scripture chain indicate that it comes down to the very first principles of the Gospel: faith, repentance, and the Holy Ghost.

David saw with an eye of faith, took confidence from repentance, and from the Holy Ghost.
Do we?

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The Sabbath and Idolatry

There's lots of different things that get focused on when we start talking about the Sabbath day. There's obedience, and holiness, and things we should (or should not) be doing. Sometimes, we talk about certain verses. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us to bring our oblations -our offerings- that we may be unspotted from the world. But there are other, less familiar, passages as well:

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Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
-Exodus 31:13, emphasis added

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I feel like, with the Sabbath so often being disregarded, it's easy to think of it as a relatively minor part of the covenant. To be obeyed when there's nothing pressing going on, when it works for you. But if the boss schedules, you... what're you going to do? Ya gotta eat, right?

The Lord is pretty serious about the Sabbath, though.
Sabbath breaking was a capital offense under the Law of Moses.

Stop. Look at that again.

The Lord  is very serious about the Sabbath.
He ordered death by stoning for Sabbath breaking.

The Sabbath is important. All the time-
-not just when there's no game on.

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Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that sould shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. 
-Exodus 31:14-15

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So, why the emphasis? What's so important about a day of rest?

A few years back, I discovered that they publish chronological versions of the Bible, and when my kids asked me to read them the Bible, we decided that's how we're going to do it: we're going to get the story, in order. It's amazing. I can't recommend it enough: putting the story in order makes things make so much more sense. Hero and I have been reading it for a couple of years now; he was pretty small when he made the request. We sometimes read just a few verses, occasionally it's been multiple chapters. And as we go along, passages that I have read in the traditional order, but had not context for, they are starting to come into focus. And sections that always bogged me down and defeated my efforts to read the whole thing cover to cover have been split up and become much more manageable, when read chronologically.

We're about halfway through the book; it's exciting: I now think of it as being halfway through the story. Having a strong narrative to attach the sermons and prophecies to makes a huge difference in how I'm understanding and retain things, and in the connections that I'm able to make as I read it. So. The Northern and Southern Kingdoms have long since split, and the North has fallen into serious apostasy.

It started with Jeroboam. He's always, "Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin". What a way to be remembered! He introduced idolatry in the Northern Kingdom; taught them to chase after false gods - wood and stone, made by their own hands, gods that don't think or breathe. Gods with no power.  And they refused to return to the Lord, on the whole, until they were destroyed. We read about the brief reprieve, under Hezekiah, who was contemporary with Isaiah (and just a little bit prior to Lehi -- about the same distance in time as we are from Joseph Smith right now). But if you look in the Chronology, in the Bible Dictionary, right under Hezekiah it says, "End of the Northern kingdom".

So, right before Isaiah there was a much less well-known prophet, Hosea. He, like Isaiah, was sent to a people who would not listen. Like Isaiah, Hosea's marriage was made at the instruction of the Lord, and his family was a sign to the people.

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And the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land had committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. 
-Hosea 1:2

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So Hosea does it; he marries a woman named Diblaim, and she bears him three children: Jezreel, Lo-ruhamah, and Lo-ammi.


When the Law of Moses was given, the Lord told them that if they would keep the commandments, they would be the beneficiaries of a host of blessings. Rain in "due season", plenty to eat, protection from enemies -even when the other nations are vastly stronger.

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Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 
If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; ... I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. ... And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 
And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
-Leveticus 26:2-13

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So there's this inverse connection between idolatry and sabbath worship: they don't seem to ever coexist. To the degree that you do the one, you don't do the other. If you obey the first of the Ten Commandments, if you have no other gods, then you will keep the Sabbath. They are linked. But Israel in the Northern kingdom turned to idolatry under Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And now as Hosea is sent to them, their day of grace is nearly done, and destruction awaits them, foreshadowed in his children's prophetic names:


Jezreel: once the capital, after the fall of the kingdom it was never important again.
Lo-ruhamah: the name means "not having obtained mercy".
Lo-ammi: the name means "not my people". 

And then there's this amazing imagery, thoughout the book of Hosea, of Christ as the bridegroom -- and His church, the daughter of Israel, as an unfaithful whore of a wife, gone chasing after every sin imaginable, consorting with every other fake and useless god, turning away from the husband who sacrificed His very body for her.

But He loves her anyway.
He wants her back.

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And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. 
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her... For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name... And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord. 
-Hosea 2: 13-20

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There's this contrast between the richly deserved destruction, brought on by idolatry: betrayal so profound that it is compared, not just to adultery, but to whoredom. To deliberate, repeated, gross unfaithfulness in the holiest of relationships. And in contrast to the abominations of the people, there's this amazing steadiness, this depth of love, of mercy. The Lord knows exactly what his bride has done... and He wants her anyway.

That's Hosea. Hosea taught me what a terrible betrayal it is to put something -anything- before the Lord. And he taught me how, however often, the Lord is not just willing but anxious to have us back. Hosea's whole book is about how much the Lord loves His people. And Hosea's themes come back in later writers. You see it in the book of Isaiah, and tonight we found it reading in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah follows Isaiah, this time among Judah, in the Southern Kingdom. His prophecies cover a good chunk of time, including the reign of Zedekiah, the same king we're familiar with from Lehi's exodus from Jerusalem. Jeremiah picks up Hosea's theme:

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Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase... The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. ... Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. 
Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
-Jeremiah 2:3-12

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In chapter 3, Jeremiah talks about how Judah had her sister's example as a cautionary tale: Israel turned to idolatry and was destroyed, but Judah has only given lipservice to the lesson; she plays at observing the forms, but the Lord is not at the center of her affections. And it's bringing disaster upon her.

And then Jeremiah offers the people the cure:

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And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein...
-Jeremiah 17:24

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The cure for the ills brought on by idolatry, the suffering that comes from allowing anything to come before the Lord in our lives and our hearts, is to shore up our Sabbaths. It is both a barometer, offering us a clue to how we are doing, and also an immunization, offering protection against the evils of the day.

Is your faith wavering? Keep the Sabbath.
Do you need blessings? Keep the Sabbath.
Have you strayed from what you know? Keep the Sabbath.

Keep the Sabbath. It's a starting place. A place to catch your balance and draw strength to face the rest of the week. Keep the Sabbath; attend your meetings and learn how to try a little harder to stand a little taller. It's firm ground from which to begin the long climb to the heights that He, in His mercy and love, invites us: to approach Him, to be joint-heirs with Him.

Keep the Sabbath; He is Lord of the Sabbath, and His plan is a plan of happiness, but unfaithfulness leads to misery every. single. time.

No wonder the Sabbath is a delight! 

The Family is Central: A Sacred Institution {Guest Post}

THIS POST IS THE SECOND IN A SERIES. SAMUEL HILL IS THE FIRST OF A COUPLE OF GUEST BLOGGERS, ALL OF THEM COMMENTING ON THE FAMILY PROCLAMATION, AROUND THE THEME: FAMILY IS CENTRAL. OTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES INCLUDE: 

~THE FAMILY IS CENTRAL: CENTRAL TO HAPPINESS 

~THE FAMILY IS CENTRAL: CENTRAL TO FULFILLMENT

Many today wonder why people of faith hold the family in such high regard despite all the imperfections that seem to infect the institution. When we defend the sanctity of the family in the many debates over gay marriage, religious rights, etc., we are frequently criticized for the high rates of abuse, infidelity, and divorce even in marriages of faith.

One answer that we do not often hear from the defenders of the traditional family is this, which I consider to be the most important: the family is a sacred institution to God. Of all the answers that people of faith can offer, this ought to be the most prominent. In the plan of God, the “family is central.” and cannot be done without.

Why this emphasis, not just from people of the Abrahamic faiths, but also from God himself? The simple reality is that the family is THE bedrock of every good teaching, both in a religious sense, and in a worldly sense.

One of the finest accounts of this quality of the family comes from the Book of Mormon tale of the Army of Helaman. Having converted to the faith of Christ from an idolatrous and murderous life, the people of Ammon were threatened with extinction by their former brethren, the Lamanites, because of their faith. “Now there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war...” When these people came to “believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin...” And indeed, when their former brethren came to battle against them, the people of Ammon “went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord...” Although 1005 of them were slain that day, their example swayed an even greater number of Lamanites to repent and follow their example. (Alma 24, approx. 77 B.C.)

Although they found brief periods of peace in the decade that followed, within 15 years they were at war with the Lamanites again. No longer a small skirmish aimed at only a single small population, the full massed army of the Lamanite nation had gathered to conquer or destroy the people of Ammon and their protectors, the Nephites. Seeing the destruction and suffering, the people of Ammon thought to break their word to God, and take up arms against the Lamanites in defense of their freedoms. Instead, 2000 their sons who were too young to join their parents’ covenant forswearing violence, volunteered to go to war in their stead. These “very young” boys are referred to repeatedly as “stripling,” an archaic word that means in essence, a young adolescent. In my mind I liken them to myself as a scrawny 14 year old whose chest was about as well defined as a piece of plywood (apologies to Mr. Friberg).

Despite their youth, and their inexperience in war, these striplings were described as “exceedingly valiant for courage,” and “true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted” (53:20). Their response, when asked by their commander whether they ought to join in a terrible battle against a mighty army, a battle that had already taken the lives of thousands of seasoned soldiers, was thus:

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46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it. (emphasis added)(Alma 53, approx. 64 B.C.)

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Imagine the example these young men were raised with: Their parents had the conviction to surrender their own lives without a fight out of devotion to their faith; mothers and fathers willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep their word to God. I do not wonder that they became paragons of faith, integrity, and courage. Luckily for us, our parents don’t have to be willing to die to show us a good example. Any parent that tries to be a good parent, will learn “to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.”

These are just a few ways that the family teaches us:

• Pacing the hallway and singing to a child with stomach flue all night while they scream and cry? They learn to understand unconditional love.
• Admitting to your kid that something you did was wrong and apologizing to them? You’ve just taught them to be honest and humble.
• Getting up at an absurd hour because someone in your neighborhood needs help? You’ve just taught your kid to sacrifice for others.
• Explaining to you kid who just dropped an air conditioner out the window that even though you’re upset, you still love them no matter what? You’ve just given them a glimpse of how God loves them.
• Lovingly working alongside your child to clean the crayon marks off the walls? You’ve taught them both patience and responsibility.
• Making your kid do chores for money to replace the neighbors window that just met the business end of a baseball? That’s a lesson in accountability.
• The alcoholic father dragging himself to an AA meeting week after week despite frequent relapses? That’s teaching his kids about repentance.
• Praying together when you’ve lost your job and you don’t know how to eat next week? You’re teaching the kids to rely on God.
• Showing up at their baseball game even when you are dog-tired and the weather sucks? You’ve taught them that they matter to you.

This list could go on forever, and I’ve no doubt that most of you are thinking back to things your parents did that left an impression. I think you get the point: There is no other organization or structure on the face of the earth that can impart the many lessons needed to build strong societies, good governments, and a wholesome human race.



Samuel Hill is a husband, father, historian, gardener, disciple, gamer, teacher, political scientist and swordsmen without enough time to do them all. When he's not playing with his kids, he is often found neck deep in some old book that causes his wife to weep with boredom. Thereafter he is frequently found baking something to pay her back.

The Family is Central: Central to Happiness

THIS POST IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO INTRODUCING YOU TO A COUPLE OF GUEST BLOGGERS, ALL OF THEM COMMENTING ON THE FAMILY PROCLAMATION, AROUND THE THEME: FAMILY IS CENTRAL.

~THE FAMILY IS CENTRAL: CENTRAL TO HAPPINESS 
~THE FAMILY IS CENTRAL: A SACRED INSTITUTION
~THE FAMILY IS CENTRAL: CENTRAL TO FULFILLMENT



The family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children -- central to the Plan of Happiness. Families are a gift from God, designed to nurture and protect us here and now, and to fit us for life in His kingdom in the hereafter.

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Individual progression is fostered in the family, which is “central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” The home is to be God’s laboratory of love and service. There a husband is to love his wife, a wife is to love her husband, and parents and children are to love one another. Throughout the world, the family is increasingly under attack. If families fail, many of our political, economic, and social systems will also fail. And if families fail, their glorious eternal potential cannot be realized. 

Our Heavenly Father wants husbands and wives to be faithful to each other and to esteem and treat their children as an heritage from the Lord. In such a family we study the scriptures and pray together. And we fix our focus on the temple. There we receive the highest blessings that God has in store for His faithful children.
-Russell M. Nelson, April 2008

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When I think about our Father's plan, how we lived with Him, and then came to earth to receive a body, to be tested and to be challenged, and all the growth opportunities, the way that we are to live together in love, and when life ends, we are to have loved much and to weep for the loss of those who leave us, and return to Him again. When I think of all that, family is there in every aspect, every step of the way. Family reaches to the very heart of the Plan, so much so that if families fail the earth is cursed, and wasted at His coming.

One of my sisters has sheet music for a song, Keeping Sheep, that compares parenting to shepherding, and talks about all the voices that say that it's not important, it's expendable, it's beneath us. It's a beautiful song, and now that we've got kids, we can't sing that thing without bawling our eyes out. This is my favorite part:

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So many voices say to me,
“A sheep-fold is no place to be.
Your time in there is dull and slow,
And lambs leave very little room for you to grow.”

Oh, If I ever start to stray,
Deceived by thoughts of greener pastures,
Remind me Lord, that keeping sheep
Will lead to happier ever-afters.
Will lead to happier ever-afters.

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God works in plain and simple things. The small, the weak, the over-looked. These are His stock in trade. Like ordinary homes, and ordinary, tired parents. He speaks in a still, small voice, one that you have to actively pay attention to in order to hear. And the value of things that He asks us to do is often like that little voice: easy to overlook.

Children need their families. Not preschools, not fancy clothes, not Stuff in all its assorted forms. They need their parents, their time, their attention. Mine need me, and yours need you. Parenting is intense, and it can be really, really hard, and there's soooo many people who want to tell us that it's not really worthwhile. But when we find the heat of opposition is the hottest, that's where the best work for the Kingdom is done. Satan doesn't oppose the stuff that doesn't matter.

Families matter. The traditional family is key to our Father's plan for our happiness. 

LDSconf: The Women's Session

Put yourself in a place where you can feel God's love for you.
-Sharon Eubank


We need to continually deepen our knowledge of and obedience to our Heavenly Father.
-Neill F. Marriott


The Savior repairs the breach, or distance, between us and our Heavenly Father.
-Neill F. Marriott
"...the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."
-Isaiah 30:26

"Thinking small about yourself does not serve us well; instead, it holds us back."
-Joy D. Jones
If you look at the scriptural uses of the word "meek" there is *never* any any justification for thinking small about ourselves: thinking ourselves small is NOT meekness. Meekness is turning to God, leaning on God, bringing Him our troubles, and realizing that our gifts and successes are from and through Him.


"God is your Father. He loves you!"
-Joy D. Jones
The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
-Romans 8:16

The path of discipleship in the gospel of Jesus Christ is the path of joy. It is the path of safety and peace.

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

If Thy Brother Offend Thee

Living in families and communities can be tough. People don't always do what we wish they would do, things don't always get communicated clearly, and even when everybody is trying hard to do right, sometimes things get tense. People get hurt. It just goes with the territory in this life. Happily, the scriptures teach us how to handle this sort of thing gracefully, with attention to both justice and mercy. A recent misunderstanding has left me wanting to make sure that I thoroughly understand the Lord's standards and methods for conflict resolution.

My starting place has long been this:

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And if thy brother or sister offend thee, thou shalt take him or her between him or her and thee alone; and if he or she confess thou shalt be reconciled. 
-Doctrine and Covenants 42:88

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In rereading this verse, I was reminded that it's part of a much more comprehensive passage instructing us about what to do when conflicts arise:

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And if thy brother or sister offend thee, thou shalt take him or her between him or her and thee alone; and if he or she confess thou shalt be reconciled. And if he or she confess not thou shalt deliver him or her up unto the church, not to the members, but to the elders. And it shall be done in a meeting, and that not before the world.
And if thy brother or sister offend many, he or she shall be chastened before many. And if any one offend openly, he or she shall be rebuked openly, that he or she may be ashamed. And if he or she confess not, he or she shall be delivered up unto the law of God.
And if any shall offend in secret, he or she shall be rebuked in secret, that he or she may have opportunity to confess in secret to him or her whom he or she has offended, and to God, that the church may not speak reproachfully of him or her.
And thus shall ye conduct in all things.
-Doctrine and Covenants 42:88-93

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The Lord's prescription when there is a conflict is simple and straightforward: First, talk it over, and try to work it out, just the two of you. Don't go running to the Bishop or other authority right off the bat: the first conversation should be with the person you are irritated with. Only if you can't work it out on your own should you start looking for a mediator-- and that quietly and discretely. Apologies should take place at the same level of public that the offense took place at. This is part of the process of growth and reconciliation. 

President Kimball expanded on this passage's counsel:

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It frequently happens that offenses are committed when the offender is not aware of it. Something he has said or done is misconstrued or misunderstood. The offended one treasures in his heart the offense, adding to it such other things as might give fuel to the fire and justify his conclusions. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Lord requires that the offended one should make the overtures toward peace. He says:

And if thy brother or sister offend thee, thou shalt take him or her between him or her and thee alone; and if he or she confess thou shalt be reconciled  
D&C 42:88

To the Nephites the Lord said:

. . . if ... thy brother hath aught against thee—
Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you  
3 Ne. 12:23-24

And to the disciples in Judea he said:

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift  
Matt. 5:23-24

Do we follow that commandment or do we sulk in our bitterness, waiting for our offender to learn of it and to kneel to us in remorse?...
Brothers and sisters and friends, if we will sue for peace taking the initiative in settling differences—if we can forgive and forget with all our hearts—if we can cleanse our own souls of sin, accusations, bitterness, and guilt before we cast a stone at others—if we forgive all real or fancied offenses before we ask forgiveness for our own sins—if we pay our own debts, large or small, before we press our debtors—if we manage to clear our own eyes of the blinding beams before we magnify the motes in the eyes of others—what a glorious world this would be!
-Elder Spencer W. Kimball, Except Ye Repent

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I think that it's important to acknowledge that it does sometimes happen that the person who is wrong, even when you go to them privately, refuses to reconcile. This makes things more difficult, but the same high standards of forgiveness apply, perhaps even more so: seeking help from the Lord to achieve forgiveness in this case will protect us from bitterness and anger. It is possible that, when the other person refuses to reconcile that finding forgiveness anyway may be even more important to our own spiritual health: it's been said that holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get sick. We need to forgive.

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"Forgiveness requires us to consider the other side of the Atonement—a side that we don’t think about as often but that is equally critical. That side is the Atonement’s power to satisfy our demands of justice against others, to fulfill our rights to restitution and being made whole. We often don’t quite see how the Atonement satisfies our own demands for justice. Yet it does so. It heals us not only from the guilt we suffer when we sin, but it also heals us from the sins and hurts of others."
-Brother James R. Rasband, Faith to Forgive Grevious Harms

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Most member of the Church will be familiar with the story of Thomas B. Marsh, how he had been ordained the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but then fell away, and swore out an affidavit that contributed in no small part to the circumstances that culminated in the Missouri Extermination Order, and the violent expulsion of the members from Missouri and the suffering of that period. He was excommunicated and remained outside the Church for almost 20 years, but eventually did return, apologized to the people, and was received back into the Church in full fellowship -- not an insignificant act of forgiveness on the part of the families of those who had died as a result of his actions.

What is interesting to me, in contemplating this situation, is that forgiveness, reconciliation, and consequences from the Lord all seem to be individual matters. When Brother Marsh was rebaptized his sins, as all new members' sins are, were washed away, and he was clean again. I greatly admire the courage that it took to return, to face the people that he had betrayed, and to live his final years among them. Brigham Young let him speak to the Church, and then had a show of hands from the congregation to see if they could receive him in full fellowship, following his apology and other remarks about his apostasy and return, which they did, "not a hand was raised" when Brother Brigham called for objections.

He was never reinstated to the Apostleship; that privilege was gone. Permanently.

Hopefully, we will never experience the type of betrayal that the early Saints received from Brother Marsh, but I think it is instructive to look at the pattern for the Lord's dealings here when we experience an offense at the hand of an unrepentant sinner: friendship is a position of trust, and the Lord does not always restore those who return to the positions of trust that they previously held. If we, in counsel with the Lord, choose to hold those who have injured us to a less intimate, less trusted position in our lives than what they previously held, it is not necessarily a symptom of a lack of forgiveness. Enforcing strict boundaries with those who are toxic in our lives is not a sin: it's a safety measure. He does not ask us to be doormats, but we are expected, commanded, required to forgive: "until seventy times seven." If we do not, the Lord categorically stated greater sin is in us... not them. Regardless of the sin under discussion.

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Our very salvation depends upon us being willing to forgive others. As Christ taught:
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. [Matthew 6:14–15]
That our own forgiveness should be conditioned on forgiving others can be a hard doctrine, particularly if the sin against us is horribly wrong and out of all proportion to any harm we’ve ever committed. Even harder, the Lord has indicated in modern revelation that “he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin” (D&C 64:9). This is a very strong statement: if we refuse to forgive, there remaineth in us the greater sin.
-Brother James R. Rasband, Faith to Forgive Grevious Harms (emphasis original)

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 Hopefully, offenses will be few and reconciliation will be possible. But regardless, forgiveness, trust in the Lord's ability to handle it, to heal us of the pain we have experienced, is a must.

Mapelle Films: Trust Fund {Crew Review}

It's a bit of a change of pace to review a movie, rather than books or curricula! But Trust Fund has a fun homeschool connection: the cinematographer and producer, Isaac Alongi, was one of the early homeschoolers: he and his parents started homeschooling in 1982. He's now the talent behind Mapelle Films. So we watched Trust Fund.

It's a prodigal son - or in this case, prodigal daughter - story, and the framework of this beautiful parable (see Luke 15) is the anchor for the whole story. Reese, the younger, free spirited daughter of a successful publisher is feeling confined by her life, and the need to pay attention to basic mundane things... like having money in her account to pay her bills. Like paying her own rent or working. She's writing a book, and that should be enough "adulting" to cover everything. She doesn't get along very well with Audrey, the older sister, the perfect one who does everything "right".

Like so many girls from good families, Reese has "bad boy syndrome": the man she falls for is bad news: he's a member of an Italian crime family. Reese steals from the trust her late mother had set up for the girls and runs away to Italy, little realizing just how much trouble she's getting herself into. She comes within a hair's breath of ruining her life, but, fortunately for her, she's the heroine in a movie, and the parable has a happy ending! It's a fun chick flick: my husband was completely uninterested, and my oldest son was pretty ho-hum about it. I should have planned things better and had a girlfriend over to watch with me, but I didn't think of it in time. Even if my guys were unimpressed, I thought it was fun!


There's some cool things about this movie. The story, even though you know the basic outline because it's based on the parable, still keeps you guessing, and there's a couple of twists that I didn't see coming. And the pacing was different in a fun way: When, as an adult, I got my own copy of Disney's Cinderella, I was really surprised at how the style of the older movie is different from more recent ones: there's lots less changing of the camera angle, and there's more space in the movie to just enjoy, or to reflect. Trust Fund reminded me of that, just a little bit: the pace isn't as frantic as some of the newer movies. Maybe it's because we watch so much of action shows (the comic movies are big winners at our house), but this was a really nice change of pace. As far as the content, although she's run away with a boyfriend, and when she comes home there's another love interest, the movie is refreshingly free of bedroom scenes or anything of the sort. The only possible complaint as far as "too much skin" is that all the young women in the movie wear these (really cute) very short skirts... and that's it. That's the only content "advisory" that a parent might need to be aware of... and it's nothing! (I probably wouldn't even have noticed, if it wasn't for the fact that I strongly dislike wearing short skirts myself, so I kept thinking, "cute, but probably uncomfortable".) A movie with no content advisories whatsoever is a lovely change of pace! I also like the way that they follow the parable in that, when Reese comes home, the movie is only half done. The second half of the movie follows Audrey much more closely, and looks at her struggles to cope with Reese's decisions and her dad's responses... and the love interest that threatens to "replace" their mother in his heart. The father really is an amazing person. I had never before realized how super-human a parent would need to be, in order to respond the way that parable outlines. It's an interesting thing to ponder, as a parent. I'd never thought about the Prodigal Son as a lesson book on parenting... I see that passage a little differently now.

Mapelle Films also has an interesting study guide to go with the movie. Honestly, I was more than a little skeptical about it: it's a movie... what're you supposed to "study"? But the study guide was thought-provoking. It's written from a Protestant point of view, and the study guide to me suggests it's been written from a "total depravity" understanding of human nature. Total depravity, which goes hand in hand with the idea of original sin, is a Protestant doctrine which holds that we are, fundamentally, wholly corrupt, unable to even attempt to follow Christ because of what they refer to as our "sin nature". LDS theology holds that we are responsible for only our own sins and not for Adam's transgression, and that while we exist in a fallen world, we are, fundamentally, the children of God (Romans 8:16), and made in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), and being made in His image means that we are, at the core and in spite of the fall, fundamentally good and able to attempt to keep the commandments of our own will, though our imperfections in doing so mean that we must unavoidably rely upon the Savior's Grace. Still, even with these significant differences in theology, there was a lot in the study guide that was really thought provoking and beneficial to ponder. The makers of this movie have given long and careful thought to the parable that it's built upon, and they have a lot of insight to offer. These theological differences between Christian denominations in no way affect the movie; they only become apparent in reading the study guide.

There's also a companion volume -- you actually see it in the movie, which is kind of fun -- Love Was Near. It's recommended for girls age 12 and over, and since Peanut isn't even close, we didn't ask for that, but a number of the other reviews did, so if you're interested in the book or seeing other reviews, click the banner below:

20 Principles: Moral Teaching

This post is part of a series. Please visit the series index for more thoughts on Charlotte Mason's 20 Principles of Classical Education.



Teaching in the Branches was the first thing that I read a year ago when I started to study Charlotte Mason's 20 Principles, and I loved it. It challenged me and made me think very deeply about a number of things, and that thinking was the reason I started writing these blog posts about the 20 Principles in the first place: I needed a place to narrate the information myself. I learned quite a bit from reading the essay, but rereading it now, I think that I entirely missed her broader point.

This time, I found myself wondering what, precisely, she meant by "moral teaching" -- and then I realized that that was exactly what she was explaining, and that all the broad array of topics she'd talked about had been either touching on why moral teaching is necessary, or on how you might go about doing it. This time, I extracted a bit of an outline of what her main points are:

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Let us consider now whether there are any principles to guide us as to the moral teachings which the branches are advised to secure:
1. Authority is at the base of a moral life, and ultimately begins with God.
2. However, even the Divine Authority does not compel.
3. Teach kids to see the safety in law.
4. Kids must be taught to discern good from evil.
5. Poetry conveys moral teaching powerfully.
6. Moral aphorisms, rendered in beautiful language, teach powerfully and lastingly.
7. Object lessons can illustrate moral teachings.
8. Art as an imperative to virtue.
9. Biographies of great men inspire virtue.
10. Calling mottoes and keeping a motto book assist moral growth.
11. Parents should have a clear idea of what virtues and morals they want their children to possess.

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I think that part of the reason why I missed this so thoroughly last time is that I was still thinking of education in far too narrow of terms. When I was in school, we would ask, "When are we going to use this?" and the teachers would try -and sometimes fail- to give us decent practical applications. But if you're looking at strictly academic development in order to secure good employment when you education is "complete" (is it ever, really?), then these answers are going to be -were- terribly inadequate.

When am I going to use sine and cosine calculations? I'm haven't and probably won't.
When am I going to need to know the differences between igneous and metamorphic rocks? Still waiting to need this.
What about the German I labored over for four years? I haven't ever done much more than say hello and happy birthday, I don't think.
Even the birds that I take such pleasure in now, I love them, but knowing them will probably never bring me a dime.

From a strictly pragmatic stance, much of our education is not useful at all. But. We should not be educating for pragmatic reasons; I'm not sorry that I learned those things: these things all had their impact on my character, even the ones that aren't "useful". Sometimes the things with the least monetary value are actually the very most valuable. Careers are not enough.

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Perfect education... is the full and uniform development of the mental, the physical, the moral and the spiritual faculties. The cultivation of the intellect, as said, is but one phase of the subject, and not by any means the most important one. Useful and valuable as it [may] be as a branch of education, it is of secondary consideration compared with other departments of the vast system of development by means of which, as an entirety, it is alone possible for the human soul and mind to be perfectly educated. ... Those persons who bestow every care and attention upon their minds, and who seem to have but one thought, How shall I shine in society, or make a financial success in the world? are egregiously in error if they think they are gaining the best part of life's experience, or securing the education of which they have most reason to be proud.
-Elder Orson F. Whitney, quoted in Teach the Children, by Neil A Flanders.

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There's a lot of talk about how we should become educated - even that we have a duty to do so: the Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life … he will have so much the advantage in the world to come” (D&C 130:18–19). But so often the emphasis is on formal university education, and I have long wondered, "What good is it to learn history, science, and all the rest, when the information available is so fragmentary, and often polluted with teachings, ideas, and theories that are not correct? Why is that going to be valuable?"

But, as important as supporting our families is, practical economic reasons are not the primary purpose of education. In fact, I am convinced that even if practical considerations of where lunch is going to come from were not a concern, education would still be critical: education is really about character. It's not the facts and formulas that we stuff our brains with; it's the way we build our character when we expose it to the rigorous demands and intricate patterns of mathematics and music. It's not learning to perfectly conjugate verbs and match the correct article to the nouns; it's learning to communicate with God's children, and to see the world through a new lens. It's not necessarily knowing the names of every rock or every bird, it's gaining fundamental knowledge about Nature -- and through Nature we learn about Nature's God.

Fundamentally, education is about becoming like Christ:

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Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily, I say unto you, even as I am. 
-3 Nephi 27:27

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What Miss Mason is doing in this essay is outlining both principles and methods for how to go about our work in becoming, and in assisting our children to become ever more like Christ.

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And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless --
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
-William Wordsworth

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