Posted on 03/17/2010 2:50:32 PM PDT by reaganaut
I write today for my son and other young men about what an extraordinary privilege it is to be an Aaronic Priesthood holder. You have been ordained and given POWER, by someone with authority from God, to act in God’s name on the earth today.
You know all about superheroes. It’s fun to watch movies and see the powers superheroes like Spiderman, Batman and Superman have. But that’s just the movies and not real.
However, from the moment you are ordained a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood, you are given more power than all the superheroes in the world combined -- and it is REAL power. It’s a special power, of course, and it can only be used if you are living the commandments.
It’s also a power that lets you help others, but you can’t use it for selfish reasons: to get things or do things that Heavenly Father doesn’t want done. However, when you use your priesthood power righteously, wonderful things will happen and you will see miracles, from simple to awe-inspiring, in your life.
What does it mean to be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood? First, it means God has enormous confidence in you. Imagine a powerful king who rules over millions of people telling you he trusts you so much that he is going to give you his signet ring.
When you have his ring you have the authority and power to do things in the king’s name. That king would have to love you very much and he would have to have enormous faith that you will make good decisions and do what is right.
But this is not a make believe situation; it’s real. Priesthood is the greatest power in the universe and our Heavenly king, God, will trust you with his power throughout your life as long as you remain worthy. He expects you to be sober, to keep the commandments, share the gospel and use priesthood power to help and serve others.
Second, more than the fact that you have power, being an Aaronic Priesthood holder means that you have duties and responsibilities given you. God requires you to do certain things and you will answer to him somedayabout how well you did what he asked you to do.
You can still have fun and enjoy life, but he wants you to be serious in representing him, honoring the priesthood and setting a righteous example for others.
A good way to understand what it means when you are ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood is to consider some of the responsibilities and blessings that come to you as a deacon, a teacher and a priest. All young men ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood hold the keys of the ministering of angels.
This is a literal promise and at times angels with attend and watch over you although you will not necessarily see them.
As a deacon you are to pass the sacrament, watch over the church, bear testimony of Christ, warn, expound, exhort and invite all members to come unto Christ. To do this you will need to keep the commandments, and carefully study the scriptures and the teachings of today’s prophets and apostles.
You are charged with helping the bishop by gathering fast offerings, caring for those in need, fellowshipping quorum brethren, and strengthening and uplifting the members.
When you become a teacher, under the direction of your priesthood leaders, you are to prepare the sacrament and are charged with speaking well of others and strengthening members by encouraging them to live the commandments.
You too warn, expound, exhort, teach and invite all to come unto Christ by home teaching, speaking in church, being an example of righteousness and integrity, and speaking kindly about others.
A priest adds to these duties baptizing and administering the sacrament. He is commissioned to visit members in their homes and to urge them to pray and attend to their family duties.
Isn’t it amazing how much the Lord trusts the young men in the church and how much he depends on them?
When Wilford Woodruff went on his first mission, he "went out as a priest, and my companion as an elder, and we traveled thousands of miles, and had many things manifested to us.
"I desire to impress upon you the fact that it does not make any difference whether a man is a priest or an apostle, if he magnifies his calling. A priest holds the key of the ministering of angels. Never in my life, as an apostle, as a seventy, or as an elder, have I ever had more of the protection of the Lord than while holding the office as a priest.
"The Lord revealed to me by visions, by revelations, and by the Holy Spirit, many things that lay before me.”
What a wonderful honor it is to hold the Aaronic Priesthood and how important it is to do everything in your power to always be worthy of this great privilege given you by God.
Aaronic priesthood has to be in the lineage of Aaron?
Since it was John the Baptist himself who restored the Aaronic priesthood on May 15th, 1829 (See LDS Scripture D&C Section 13) I suppose he would it was OK
- - - - — -
Yes. And there is NO NEED for a Leviticus priesthood because Christ is our sacrifice and our High Priest.
Read the Book of Hebrews.
What proof do you have that John the Baptist ‘restored’ the priesthood? None.
I write today for my son and other young men about what an extraordinary privilege it is to be an Aaronic Priesthood holder. You have been ordained and given POWER, by someone with authority from God, to act in God’s name on the earth today.
_________________________________________________
WOW I have that power without needing to be a so called Aaronic priest in mormondom...
Jesus gave me that power...
how “aaronic”
R there is no proof for any of the lds claims.
*** the manuscripts used by JS to ‘translate’ the Book of Abraham were found to be nothing more than Egyptian death records! They had no resemblance to what Smith has ‘translated’!***
You mean, like this?
From the REAL papyrus of Abraham ...Verses 1-5
http://www.bookofabraham.com/boamathie/BOA_6.html
(I/1) [”Osiris, the god’s father], prophet of Amon-Re, King of the Gods, prophet of Min who slaughters his enemies, prophet of Khonsu, the [one who exercises] authority in Thebes,
(I/2) [. . .] . . . Hor, the justified, son of the similarly titled overseer of secrets and purifier of the god, Osorwer, the justified, born by the [housewife and sistrum-player of ]
(I/3) [Amon]-Re, Taikhibit, the justified! May your ba-spirit live among them, and may you be buried on the west [of Thebes].”
(I/4) [”O Anubis(?),51 . . .] justification(?).
(I/5) [May you give to him] a good and splendid burial on the west of Thebes as on the mountains of Ma[nu](?).”
[Osiris shall be towed in]to the great lake of Khonsu,
and likewise [the Osiris Hor, the justified,] born of Taikhibit, the justified,
after his two arms have been [placed] at his heart, while
the Breathing Document, being what
is written on its interior and exterior, shall be wrapped in royal linen and placed (under) his left arm in the midst of his heart. The remainder of his
wrapping shall be made over it. As for the one for whom this book is made,
he thus breathes like the ba-spirit[s] of the gods, forever and ever.
they pass out wonderbread and water
____________________________________________
wonderbread for their wunderalls...
and water to represent the water in the veins of their weak mormon god...
The wonderbread and water DO bother me, but I study ritual so...
When doing it in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice, IMO, the elements DO matter (except in extreme circumstances like you mentioned).
Leavening = sin and Christ was sinless which is why unleavened bread was used (also passover).
Grape Juice or Wine (both fruit of the vine) is symbolic of His blood, water just doesn’t cut it.
Silly me, I keep forgetting. ;)
And you are a woman. :)
Yeppers...
God didnt notice...
When He looks at me, He sees the Blood that Jesus shed on the Cross of Calvary...
Ya know, I bet you’re right!
Hey, Yehuda, hows it feel to know the Mormons took over the Aaronic priesthood!
And they did it without a red heiffer!
(Dont hit me!)
TM4: What's the name of the type of "logic" in which you use a flawed premise in order to support a flawed premise. A googling I shall go..... be back in a minute...
OK, so many, so many. Here are a few fallicies of logic used to support the BOM/D&C/POGP:
1) Proof by verbosity: a rhetorical technique that tries to persuade by overwhelming those considering an argument with such a volume of material that the argument sounds plausible, superficially appears to be well-researched, and it is so laborious to untangle and check supporting facts that the argument might be allowed to slide by unchallenged.
2)Bare Assertion Fallacy: a fallacy in formal logic where a premise in an argument is assumed to be true merely because it says that it is true. For example: Mike says all cats are blue. Mike says he is not lying. Therefore it is true all cats are blue.
3)Equivacation, circular reasoning, begging the wquestion, etc, etc etc...
Dunno - never read their book of the dead unless it was like in the movie The Mummy ....
I don’t expect that I, or any Latter-day Saint could prove any of the claims our Church makes.
All we can do is present the doctrines, and ask people to study and pray about them. I believe that God can provide confirmation of the truths that are presented to those who ask in faith and sincerity through the power of the Holy Ghost.
This was how I came to become a Mormon.
I think it frankly feeds some of the athletic programs @ universities like BYU. If you've been designated by Lds leaders as a...
..."god-in-embryo"
...wearing magic garments...
...and are a priestholder in a system where you are told "you are given more power than all the superheroes in the world combined -- and it is REAL power"...
...just the combo "psychology" of these interactions alone tends to lend itself to a gung-ho, prideful, almost arrogant nature that both moves you to do things you wouldn't otherwise think you can do, yet inevitably is based upon false confidences & false securities which will fail you.
By analogy, it's like being told you're a god, albeit a "baby one"...
...and you can wear a magic condom that will "protect" you...
...and your "priestholder" designation will add to that ultra-"superhero" power...
Now, do you think that will lead people to engage in "less" risky behavior, or more? And while somebody may as a result of a "SuperCondom" mentality start "tallying" what they deem as "conquests," it all eventually catches up to them.
There is no "SuperCondom!"
There is no "SuperUnderwear!"
There is no "SuperHeroPriesthood!"
And lo, nobody but nobody are baby gods.
How are even Mormons to know they aren't gods or potential ones?
'Cause when a Mormon looks up in their topical guide at the back of their Bible, like the Lds one I have published in 1979, there are no entries for this.
You look up "eternal progression..."
...and it tells you to look elsewhere, like "godliness."
So you go to "godliness," and there are no verses listed in either the BoM or even the D&C about becoming gods.
...it also tells you to look up "eternal life." Same thing...no verses there about becoming gods in any of their supposed "scriptures."
...it also tells you to look up "exaltation." So I look up "exaltation" & finally it gives some D&C verses about that...but no Book of Mormon passages other than 4 talking about inheriting God's kingdom or coming to glory.
It's just not in the Book of Mormon! And here Smith said SEVERAL TIMES in the D&C that the Book of Mormon IS "the fulness of the everlasting gospel!" If it was a "full" and "eternal" gospel as of 1830, can't make it fuller and more eternal in later 1830s, can you????
Sorry...Lds...but the Book of Mormon knows of NO SUCH thing as the unique Lds contemporary teaching of exaltation, eternal progression, "eternal life" (which they uniquely define as ONLY the highest degree of glory), or godliness =ing becoming a god!!! Not there. Absent. MIA.
Somebody's lied to you.
The aaronic priesthood ended with Christ.
Christ was originally sent only to the house of Israel; but since that time the Gospel of Christ is primarily subscribed to by gentiles.
Jesus was of the lineage of David - He could never hold an aaronic priesthood position.
Also, Since it was John the Baptist himself who restored the Aaronic priesthood on May 15th, 1829 (See LDS Scripture D&C Section 13) I suppose he would it was OK.m Or do you think your opinion is more valid than his?
No, mythology doesn't superceed biblical facts.
Your are kidding, right?
Glad you made a distinction there. But proof is possible norman - show us where all these bom cities and archaeological finds in the New World are.
From the LDS Merry-go-round o’ facts...
Exactly. You could use diet coke and twinkies for all I care, as long as it was done with reverence and joyful remembrance.
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