Author Archives: Millennial Star Editors

Guest Post: The Church Got the Plan of Salvation Wrong

Posted on by

The following guest post comes from Tex Benson.

I have lived in the south-eastern United States my entire life including my mission which was in Houston Texas. God bless Texas. Currently I am in my fourth year of school studying Civil Engineering and Military Science (Army ROTC). At church I serve as the Stake Young Single Adult Representative, which I hate, and I teach Elders Quorum once a month(ish), which I love.

Ok, not the whole Church, just the Mission Department and the Church Education System. I wanted an edgy title.

I realized this while I was on my mission but wasn’t really sure how to address it and the reason I am ranting about it now is because I am ashamed of myself. Recently I attended a Young Single Adult fireside and honestly this one was quite good, however it hit on a pet peeve of mine. Towards the end the Bishop who was teaching asked for a volunteer to come up and draw the Plan of Salvation on the board with the rest of the group assisting them on what to put in. Before the young man drew the Pre-Earth Life I knew what would happen, but I let it go to see if someone said something. I had enough confidence in this bishop to think that if no one else pointed out the problem he would at the end. Sadly, my faith was in vain. The typical Sunday school Plan of Salvation was put on the board complete with Outer Darkness, the War in Heaven, and the Veil. The only time Christ was mentioned as part of the plan was when a woman said “put an A by the Earth for the Atonement”. Sadly she was shouted down by an argument about the Veil of Forgetfulness and her A was never drawn. I had a difficult decision to make, do I call out a Bishop and everyone else or do I stay silent? I chose to stay silent.

Continue reading →

A Well-behaved God

Posted on by

The following guest post is from SilverRain, a frequent M* commenter.  SilverRain blogs at rainscamedown.blogspot.com.

There is something in each of us that wants things to be neat and tidy. If we are righteous, we will get blessings. If we are wicked, we will be punished. Therefore, if good things happen, it’s because we were righteous. If bad things happen, we must have been wicked.

As humans, we continually recreate God in our own image. If we don’t believe in polygamy, or male-centric priesthood, we don’t believe that God supports those things, either. If we feel that modesty doesn’t have to mean covering the shoulders, we believe God doesn’t care whether or not we cover our shoulders. If we feel that our tithing money would be better spent with a local charity, we have a tendency to believe that God wants us to spend it where it can make the most difference.

By doing this, either we focus so much on the details that we miss the principle, or we fancy that if we understand the principle, the details are unnecessary.

 

Continue reading →

Guest Post: Becoming New Creatures

Posted on by
eye
Christ continually invites us to abandon old habits, attitudes, and thoughts and replaces them with newer and better ones.

The following guest post from Jeffery Thane is cross-posted at LDSPhilosopher.com.

As repeated in the Book of Mormon countless times, prophets have long prophesied that Christ would come to earth to redeem His people. Abinadi taught that “God himself should come down among the children of men, and take upon him the form of man, and go forth in mighty power upon the face of the earth … that he should bring to pass the resurrection of the dead … and redeem his people.” Abinadi was murdered for preaching this, but Alma, Abinadi’s sole convert, continued to teach others about “the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ.”

Continue reading →

Guest Post: The Eye of Faith

Posted on by
eye
If faith is like an eye (Alma 32:40), then it’s a way of seeing, not a way of getting by without seeing at all.

By Jeffrey Thayne

We often talk about faith as the absence of sight. For example, we are taught that “if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen,” and “faith is things which are hoped for and not seen.” We often visualize faith as taking a step into the unknown, or trusting that which we cannot see. This conception of faith is partly true. However, for a moment, I would like to explore faith as a way of seeing, not just the absence of sight. It is sight enlivened by the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Continue reading →

A chaplain for all

Posted on by

The following guest post comes from retired United States Army Colonel John F. Rudman. Millennialstar.org is hopeful that you and others from your battalion will be able to re-connect with Captain Davis. Thank you for your service!

In 1990, I was fortunate enough to take command of 5th battalion, 3rd Field Artillery in Germany. This period in history was rather volatile for the US Army as we had just ended the Cold War and orders went out to downsize the Army, as happens after each major threat is defeated. Shortly thereafter, in August 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, but the Army continued to de-activate units. While it built up forces to counter the invasion: not an easy thing to do or even contemplate. My unit found itself in the middle of a squabble that was unparalleled as we went from de-activation, to deployment, to de-activation, to weapon change to no weapon change, and on and on and on. Concurrently, 112 soldiers were stripped out to fill other units. The battalion received eleven different missions over a period of just under six months. In the end, we re-deployed as a unit to the United States, and then re-armed from an 8” battalion to a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Battalion at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Continue reading →