The Parables Of Christ

What is a Parable?

The Bible dictionary defines a parable as follows:

A parable was to veil the meaning. The parable conveys to the hearer religious truth exactly in proportion to his faith and intelligence; to the dull and uninspired it is a mere story. It reveals the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Only he who seek finds.

Parable is a Greek word meaning setting side by side or comparison. In parables divine truth is presented by comparison with material things.

There is a difference between interpretation of a parable and the application of a parable.

Consider context and setting. The persons, to whom it is addressed, all give a clue to the right interpretation.

The Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30)

24 ¶Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: (A man who is faithful and obedient)

25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
(Satan and Worldliness)

26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
(We have the righteous and unrighteous member in our wards in the Church. But also all of us have some "tares" in our own lives. We need to be wise to recognize them and weed them out.)

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

(We can gather the "tares" in our lives and "burn" or take them out and for doing this we will be gathered up in the wheat (righteousness) and be taken to his barn (kingdom of God).

What are the tares in your life?


We also read this week about the Parable of the mustard seed and the leaven (Matthew 13:31-33), Parable of the gospel net (Matthew 13:47-50), and the Parable of the treasure and the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-46)


This week in our assignment we were given an assignment to match up which one of the Parable's that would answer the following questions. Here are the questions with my answers. If you do not agree post your comments.

1. What describes the future growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

----The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven

2. Why does the Church send out so many missionaries?

----The Parable of the gospel net

3. How do you explain the remarkable growth of the Church, considering that it is fairly new compared to most world religions and started small in the American frontier?
----The Parable of the Gospel Net

4. Why are some members of the Church willing to sacrifice so much worldly wealth and reconition in order to maintain membership in the Church?
----The Parable of the treasure and the pearl of great price

5. Why do some Church member chose to leave the Church?
----Parable of the Tares

Parable of the Treasures and the Pearl of Great Price

44 ¶Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

 45 ¶Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

 46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

What sacrifices would you be willing to make to obtain the tresure of the gospel?

I sacrificed the possiblity of loosing my family.  I told my parents 10 years ago this July that I wanted to be baptized and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The possiblity of loosing my family held me back from joining the church many years prior.  But I could not deny the promptings of the Spirit and the Truthfullness of the gospel.  I have found the pearl and I will never let go.  This was the hardest,but the best life altering decision of my life.  Because of this decision I have been blessed with a worthy Priesthood holding husband and 4 amazing children in a short 10 years of my conversion. 

Parable of the gospel net (Matthew 13:47-50)

47 ¶Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

 49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

 50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The gathering of every kind is the missionary work that is taking place throughout the world.  The missionaries will gather all kinds of converts and all will be given the chance to repent and come unto Christ.  Some will be sincere followers and other will not, some may even reject the message.  All will be given a chance, but there will be a day of judgement. 

Thanks for taking the time to look at the Parable's of Christ with me, and hope you learned a little and I hope you will teach me a little as well with your comments. 

The Miracles of Christ

The Miracles of Christ

This week as we have been studying the New Testament, I had the opportunity to study the
miracles of Christ. Below you will find a chart telling you about what I learned.

As I read these scriptures we learn about how Christ healed physical impairments, but I think that the real healing was that of their spiritual infirmities. He shows us that he can heal physical, spiritual, and even temporal needs. This is a great reminder that we can turn to the Lord in all and any of our problems that we face.

The baptism of Jesus Christ

This week in institute we are learning about John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus Christ. What an amazing man John was and how humble. He was the one who shut the door on the old law and opened the way for the new law or for the teachings of Jesus Christ. Being raised Catholic we were taught that the Godhead were all one and this never felt right to me, and after studying Matthew this week I love the clarification that the Godhead is 3 separate personages.

1. Why was John Hesitant to baptize Jesus?

John was hesitant to baptize Jesus because he was perfect, and John felt like it should be he that asked Jesus to baptize him and not the other way around.

2. What is taught her about the Holy Ghost?

We all receive the Holy Ghost to be our companion or gift following the covenant of Baptism.

3. Jesus Christ said He must be baptized to “fulfill all righteousness.” List three reasons why Jesus Christ was baptized.

 To do the will of the Father and show obedience to the His commandments
 To be an example
 To receive the constant companionship or be full of the Holy Ghost.

What evidence is found in Matthew 3:16-17 that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate personages in the Godhead?

Two examples were given that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are separate personages. The first being that the Holy Ghost descended as a personage “like a dove” following the baptism of Jesus Christ, and also the Father proclaimed “ This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” All three were at the place, all at the same time, therefore they cannot be one in the same.

Institute: New Testament

Well I am starting another semester and another Religion class assignment. I think this will be amazing to look back on later and review my thoughts and feelings. I have never been very good a keeping a journal…so I think this might qualify as a scripture study journal. I hope you enjoy what you read, and if you want to learn more you can always ask me or search lds.org or mormon.org for more information.

Thanks everyone.

Week One: Reading Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2, John 1,17

I have been asked to learn more about the names of The Savior that I learned about in my readings this week and in my student manuals.


CHRIST:
 The anointed, the only begotten of the Father in the flesh. The first born of the father in spirit.



MESSIAH:
 Aramaic word meaning the anointed, it represents the King and deliverer whose coming the Jews were expecting.


JEHOVAH:
 The covenant or proper name of the God of Israel. It denotes the “unchangeable one” the eternal “I AM”



IMMANUEL:
 Means God with us, a sign of God’s deliverance. Christ will be born into mortality of a virgin and fulfill the prophecy.



THE WORD:
 John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
 Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained the meaning of the Savior’s title “the Word”: “In the Greek language of the New Testament, that Word was Logos or ‘expression.’ It was another name for the Master
 The Father worked through the son, and thus the son but the will of the father in effect, therefore becoming “The Word”





5 Truths of Premortal Christ

1. “All things were mad by him” He created the earth under the direction of the Father.
2. That John the Baptist was sent by God to pave the path for the coming of the “Light”
3. That Christ was with God before coming to the earth and the Plan was set.
4. He is the Son of God and was made flesh by the power of God
5. That there is a father and a son, they are not one being, but 2 separate beings.

5 Truths of Mortal Christ

1. That this life is not the end, but we will have eternal life.
2. That every man has the Light of Christ
3. He made the world, and he had knowledge of what was to come
4. He had a mortal body like you and me
5. He faced the same mortal life as us.

What’s your Love Language? What’s your spouse’s Love Language?

This was a great lesson!! I got the opportunity to take a quiz to see what my “Love Language” is and Marco did the same. It’s funny after taking this quiz how you notice how you may have been showing your love in the “wrong language”. For instance one of my love languages is physical touch, when Marco’s is acts of service. So all this time I have been doing it my way, not his. This was a great opportunity to have my eyes opened, and find some great ideas to show Marco that I love him. If you want to take the test with your husband go to: http://www.5lovelanguages.com

Here are my posts and my experiences: Love Languages Over the next weeks I am going focus on my husband and showing my love for him using his love language which I believe is Acts of Service and receiving gifts. I know that one of the biggest things that make him feel loved is when I keep the house super clean and when our bedroom bed and clothes are put away. I am going to clean up the house and try and maintain its cleanliness to a higher level for the next 2 weeks. This will be extremely hard as we are currently under construction and 6 people living on one floor of a small home. When is comes to receiving gifts, money is tighter with the holidays around the corner, but I am going to leave him little notes of love and encouragement with a small little treat in his bag or lunch. I am also going to try and surprise him by going to his work to bring him dinner once a week during this period, because he does not get to have dinner with me during the week. November 21, 2014: Wow, I did not really understand how hard this would be and I am struggling a bit. This has really made me understand how much I assume that I make my spouse feel loved. Because our love languages are so different I find doing things for him that I would want and not what he would want. So I need to work on for the upcoming week to again attempt to show him love with his love languages. December 1, 2014: Well this week was a little better with using the Love Languages to show my spouse he is loved. But it was a very difficult week as my husband loves the house to be CLEAN. We have 4 children under age 5 and we both work full time, and what I have discovered is that I really dont like spending my spare time cleaning. This has been a work in progress, but I know the benefits outweight my dislike for cleaning or spending money on gifts. December 5, 2014 1) What did you learn throughout the course of this project? I really learned that I am trying to love my spouse in my own love language, and that it is not easy to to “show love” in their language. I found that it was easy slip back into using my personal love language and forgetting about his language. It helped me to understand some of the frustrations between us and why we might quarrel or not feel loved. That we really did not know all the ways each other felt loved. 2) How would you adjust the project in the future? I think that I might take the test with my spouse every so often to see if our love languages change. What I noticed that my love language is not the same as when I in my 20’s. It would be interesting to see how this would turn out. Also I would like to talk take the time to talk with my spouse about how they felt with my efforts with trying to communicate my love in their love languages. 3) What are your goals for maintaining provident living habits? Well my goal would be to continue to do this for the rest of my life. My relationship with my spouse is the most important and central to our family relationships. If he feels loved then my children will feel loved, and will see our examples, and learn from our successes and mistakes. 4) How can this specific habit bless your life and the lives of your friends and family members? I know that this will bless our family with a happier spouse, thus a happier home. You can never have too much love, and with love it builds trust and faith in one another. This will help create a healthy relationship between myself and my spouse, and hopefully be an example to my children of how a good relationship is based on service not being served.

Happiness in Family Life & The Priesthood

There has been so much uproar from some members who believe that the Priesthood should be extended to the women of the Church? I have a testimony that God knows ALL and if the women were to have the Priesthood He would do so, but the Lord does not change with the times, to make individuals happy with there decisions, whether they be in righteousness or not. 1 Nephi 10:18 Man is not superior to women because they hold the Priesthood. One can not be without the other, we walk side by side in the gospel.

The following is my post on this very thing: I really enjoyed the talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks about the Keys and Authority of the Priesthood, especially with all the recent problems with some women wanting the church to change God’s authority and grant them the Priesthood. The priesthood is an authority from God not a power over someone else not a superiority, but an authority. Linda Burton’s desire for each one of us to have a “greater desire to better understand the priesthood” is something we all need to do for ourselves. If we pray and ponder God will help each one of us to understand the importance of the Priesthood authority and help you gain a testimony that he has given the authority to men. Both men and women are essential to Gods plan, “The greatest power God has given to His sons cannot be exercised without the companionship of one of His daughters.” November 19, 2014

Provident Living: Media Influence

The media that we watch and listen to can invite the Spirit or it can be an environment where the Spirit will not be able to dwell with us. The past year as I have served in the YW program, media influence is something that I have noticed and have made a goal to make sure I always have an environment where the Spirit can dwell.

This has been a topic that I have been working on over the last year from being involved with the YW program and Pathways. I want to continue to work on my goals that I have in place already...and I hope that is okay. I look at them as more than goals, because for my family they really should just be a way of life. Here are my goals: 1. Radio listening time in the car: LDS music/Christian music and or church talks (Mormon Channel) 2. Less time using media for entertainment for both my family and myself. Increased effort for formal scripture study as a family. 3. (A new goal) to bear my testimony to my children during the 2 weeks, and help them learn more formally what a testimony is, and help them understand and learn what they believe. I want to do this instead of letting my children fill extra time watching programs on the television. November 8: Listening to only LDS/Church talks in the car is going well, I am actually enjoying the talks and programs on the Mormon Channel. Because I have been so busy with reading for my other classes my media time has basically only been about 2 hours total for one week. I have been doing scripture study with my children, however I need to get better about actually bearing my testimony to them following scripture study. November 12, 2014: My plan is still going well but I think some of it is that I am just too busy to do anything outside of work, family, and school. I am still listening to The Mormon Channel in the car on my way to work and really enjoying it but do miss my talk radio (Glenn Beck). Scripture study is doing good with the children, but also I must admit it is because they are excited about doing it, and they often have to remind me. I love to hear there excitement as we read about Nephi being bound by his brothers, an the Lord helping him loosen the ropes. It was a good lessen to teach them that God does listen and help us with our struggles and needs. I still need to continue improving on sharing my testimony with my children. November 14, 2014: 1) What did you learn throughout the course of this project? I learned that I watch and use media more than I thought I did, I can not seem to remember a time without surfing Facebook on my phone, and watching television to fill my spare time. I have learned that listening to uplifting music (instead of political radio) and reading the scriptures with my children have made me a happier mom and a happier family. There is still craziness, screaming, and times I want to pull my hair out, but I want to be more patient, loving, and especially I want to listen. I have really discovered that I have amazing children, with amazing testimonies. I am blessed. 2) How would you adjust the project in the future? I had been listening to Mormon radio/Sunday Music prior to this assignment, but I think the biggest thing I want to strive to do is bear my testimony of these things to my children. Not only should I be an example to them, but I should tell them why. 3) What are your goals for maintaining provident living habits? I want to continue with managing my media influences, but I think my next goal would be to look at who much media time my children have. I did realize that they have been using computers and television more when I am studying and trying to complete my homework. I need to get them to use the time to do better activities. 4) How can this specific habit bless your life and the lives of your friends and family members? It will build my children’s testimonies, they will have a happier mother, I will have my “bucket” filled with good thoughts and counsel and we will be a much happier family. I think that the whole point of this activity for me was to spend more time with my children and build the faith of our family.