Christ The Father

We listened to the BYU Central Come Follow Me lesson today as a family as we finished studying Mosiah 4-6 this week. I told the little kids they had to listen to the beginning and the story about the humble widow who lived in the river bottoms.

Around minute 12:20 - Believe - comes from two Latin roots: Be - Lieve
Be = Fully, 100% (Beloved, Become, Beware)
Lieve = Love

Mosiah 4:9-10

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

Believe in God = Fully Love God!
Believe that He is = Fully love that He is!
Believe that man doeth not comprehend all the things that the Lord can comprehend -
Believe that you must repent -
Believe = What you FULLY LOVE
And, if you believe and fully love all these things, SEE THAT YE DO THEM

I also really loved the thoughts around 31 minutes - is Christ our elder Brother or our Father? Latter Day Saints believe He is both, and what is pointed out in this video is true - that Latter Day Saints might tend to point out how he is our brother a bit more, as we try to make sure people know that he is the Son of God and that God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate beings. So yes, Chrsit is our brother, but the scriptures don't emphasize that relationship! That is not the role of His that is most important in our relationship with Him. The scriptures emphasize the relationship we have with Him whereby we gain salvation - Christ is the FATHER of our SALVATION

We have 3 Fathers -
Heavenly Father - the Father of our Spirit body - We have a Heavenly Mother there
Earthly Father - the father of our physical body. Our Earthly father is our spiritual brother too, like Christ is, but we call him Dad because "DAD" has a much more important role to play in our life. The mother of our physical bodies bears us and nurtures us.
CHRIST - we need a new birth through Christ - a spiritual rebirth is absolutely essential to enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus is the Father of that new birth. Jesus is the Father of our resurrected body! - he made that possible and we owe that to him. Christ is the father of the creation, of our spiritual rebirth, and of our resurrection and resurrected bodies! I loved that!

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Might God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Mosiah 5:7
And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the childrenof Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

Ether 3:14
Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.

And what is the mother here? The Church! - where we receive our  new birth through baptism, where we are nurtured. Christ is the bridegroom, the Church is the Bride! I loved that the Total Solar Eclipse created a diamond ring effect -

I like to think of that as the wedding ring from Christ to his church. And I've been listening to lots of interesting ideas about how the two solar eclipses were signs for the world. That idea is referenced in these videos by Jodi Stoddard that I'm working my way through - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4