Joseph Janson: Who is Christ?

Being ahead in my religion class reading has helped me to be a lot more fixed on what Brother Griffin is saying during class. I feel this next class will be a lot more focused on doctrine and not so much story. I read through all of Jesus's prayer, the Intercessory Prayer in John 17. Now I will discuss more of what it means to pray then exactly what is said in this chapter. Of course anything we see our Savior do that we can feasibly do ourselves, is definitely important to know "the only true God, and Jesus Christ." In this I will focus on a cross reference I found on prayer in the Book of Mormon, in Alma 34:17. "Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you." I point out something I mentioned earlier this year I think, that it is interesting how connected faith and repentance are to prayer. It seems the way we actually exerc...

A lot has happened to me since I wrote last week. And a lot of it I never even expected to happen. This can be the case for each of us a lot of the time. In Matthew 24 verse 44 we read, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." Now of course when we read this we all think, "Well yeah we won't know when Jesus will come!" But I think this can be a bit more deep symbolism than we make it out to be. In the Greek for this verse it says He will come in the Second Coming "when you do not expect Him." this changes the connotation slightly, because we may be thinking subconsciously, "Man Christ will come someday but definitely not now!" And that will be the condition when He comes. We must never forget that our Lord should always be on our minds and we should always be preparing to meet Him. He is the most important thing in any of our lives, whether we think about it or not. I think this scriptural pro...

So I really hope you love the title of my post today. It seems random but it is not in vain. I was reading in Matthew 23 verse 37 and 38 which says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Honestly I feel that this whole chapter Jesus is throwing down on the people around Him, plainly saying they are hypocritical and saying they kill the prophets. He talks in this chapter a lot about the Pharisees, who lead the people in many respects, and are leading them to destruction. This seems very intense for some of us and that's why we don't talk much about Jesus saying these things. But what I have loved about the New Testament study I am doing is that if you study everything Christ says, you know He is not around for people to like Him and to ...

I've been studying some exceptional stuff recently. As we read more in the New Testament about Jesus and the Mount of Transfiguration, we talked a bit about how these same keys were given to Joseph and Oliver in the Kirtland temple. This brought me right back to an article I read in a considerably old Ensign edition in June 1985 (that's considerably old for me). It is called "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836" by John D. Pratt. Now this article is not your typical primary story of breaking a window with a baseball and asking neighbor for forgiveness story. It is an extensive discussion on the exact date of the Savior's resurrection. Now you may think, why is that important? Well what is important is knowing that hundreds of years later on this resurrection date, Christ would come to bring keys to Joseph and Oliver. Easter is important for more reasons than we typically think. Now I was reading in John 10:14-16. "I am the good shepherd, and k...

Well I admit again that the more I get into my studies, the more I realize I have forgotten or just don't know! My wife Eloisa and I were reading from Matthew 17 in the earlier verses where we read of the Mount of Transfiguration. I definitely don't remember a huge amount of what happens on this amazing occasion. We do read something familiar though in verse 5. "While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." We only know of a few times that God has actually really spoken, and this is one of them. Of course these are familiar words we know were said to Joseph Smith in the grove. God mostly works through His Son, but at very important occasions He comes Himself to present the Son. We know through revelation that here in Matthew 17 Peter, James, and John received priesthood keys needed to actually direct the work when Christ was gone. This wa...

So I was reading some more of Matthew's writings in Matt 15:7-9. The more I read from here the more I realize I don't understand very well! What I'm finding is if I don't study consistently enough, I forget a lot about gospel study I once knew. Anyways, here Christ basically throws down on the Pharisees and scribes. "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Now if you know your scriptures at all, you've heard these words before. But where? Well the footnote takes us to Isaiah, where clearly Jesus is quoting from. Isaiah's words are almost identical. This is also in 3 Nephi 27, which is a chapter speaking of the apostasy. That's three times these words are repeated! Now I just realized I'm pretty sure this was said to Joseph Smith at the...