When Joseph Smith Jr. walked into the grove to pray, after reading James 1:5, he had a miraculous experience. We do not know exactly what occurred, but we do know that he had a revelation. We are tole that he was asked not to join any of the denominations he had explored. Why not? And does this revelation mean that all churches were evil? And if they were, are they still today?
“Therefore, come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.” -Alma 5:25 RAV, 7:14b RAV When Nicodemus came to Jesus to learn about salvation, he was told he would need to be born again (John 3:1-8). Baptism is a Sacrament required by the Savior for admission…
“I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go…” -Songs of Solomon 3:4 Many people avoid the topic of soul mates because it can be problematic. What happens if one’s “soulmate” isn’t the individual we marry? What if our “soulmate” rejects us? Looking at soulmates like this debases the true definition of the term.
As human beings we tend to separate then regroup things. Yet God asks us to bring things together (see John 17). And so many ask themselves, how can we rely fully on grace if we do good works? How can we do good works if we rely on grace? And most importantly, if the path is that narrow, how can we know if we are truly saved? The answers are simple: we receive what we receive, do what we do and know what we believe is true because we are on the path of teshuvah. We know because we know.
The Sages teach us in this parasha story which refers to events that transpired with Jacob: in Ecclesiastes there is a verse that talks about the sun rising and setting. The sun set early so that Jacob would have to sleep in Beth-El on his way to Haran, and it rose early on him in order to heal him on his journey to Haran. Upon reading this report by the Sage I could see that Jacob’s story is about our own soul’s life journey.
In Christianity there seems to be an ongoing battle between works and grace, salvation and exaltation, the Law and the fulfillment of that Law. Yet these are not opposites. The fulfillment of justice through mercy cannot be an opposite as these are forces working in unity.
The idea of yin and yang is very popular in modern western culture. It is the idea of balance between light and dark, positive and negative, between everything. But it is not a new concept. In Kabbalah this idea of balance is called the Ayin-Yesh.