“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.”
-1 Corinthians 14:10
My most recent piece consisted of a possible reason for the decline in religious worship in America. This reason was the absence of firm truth and doctrine within some churches.
Today, my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, started our semi-annual General Conference. General Conference has sessions on Saturday and Sunday where our church leaders speak to members across the world. I was only able to watch one of today’s sessions and “strangely” enough, the words spoken in this session were related to my last post. Here are some of the words and ideas spoken in today’s last session of General Conference.
While majority of my readers are not of my exact faith, I do know that many of my readers believe in the Bible (King James Version). 1 Corinthians 14:10 states that there are many voices in the world. Scripture is applicable to all cultures, all time periods, and all locations.
We live in an age in which the adversary is committed to our failure. Satan is relentless in his work; we must also be relentless in ours. We must realize that God’s commandments are not obstacles to our happiness; rather, they are the complete opposite. Following God’s commandments is as difficult as it has ever been. In today’s world we have seen a plague in abortion, drugs, alcohol, pornography, etc. All of these are promoted in everyday life as they serve as a voice for satan. As stated in 1 Corinthians, each and every voice will have a level in significance. In other words, each voice will seem relevant to an extent.
As a teenager I know that many are influenced by social media, teachers, friends, parents, celebrities, and others. It is challenging to decide which voices we are to follow. The first step is to acknowledge that the adversary is present, and that we will be tempted to do things that are immoral. Then, we must simply strive to better.
No matter which church you attend, or even if you do not attend church at all, it is important to remember that we must evaluate our sources and decide for ourselves whether we think they are reliable or not. Do not take another person’s word for it because, they are not you. As individuals, we have the luxury of free agency; we can hear what we want to hear and think what we want to think. The key however, is to know when you are hearing the truth.
This is a complicated subject and I would like to ask that my readers do not assume any part of my beliefs. If you have any questions or thoughts PLEASE contact me. I would love to discuss this more and clear things up if I can.
-Drew