Earth-Life Syllabus

Earth-Life Syllabus

Semesters – The spring, summer, fall, and winter of your life.

Instructor’s Name:

God

Office Location:

Heaven

Office Hours:

Always

Contact:

Through prayer, always in Christ’s name. He will respond via the Holy Ghost, your friends, your family, and/or some other way. Just be listening.

I.     COURSE DESCRIPTION

       Life on earth is an opportunity and a blessing. Our purpose in this life is to have joy and prepare to return to God’s presence. In mortality we live in a condition where we are subject to both physical and spiritual death. God has a perfect, glorified, immortal body of flesh and bones. To become like God and return to His presence, we too must have a perfect, immortal body of flesh and bones. However, because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, every person on earth has an imperfect, mortal body and will eventually die. If not for the Savior Jesus Christ, death would end all hope for a future existence with Heavenly Father.

       Along with physical death, sin is a major obstacle that keeps us from becoming like our Father in Heaven and returning to His presence. In our mortal condition we often yield to temptation, break God’s commandments, and sin. During our life on earth each of us makes mistakes. Although it sometimes appears otherwise, sin always leads to unhappiness. Sin causes feelings of guilt and shame. Because of our sins, we are unable to return to live with Heavenly Father unless we are first forgiven and cleansed.

       While we are in mortality, we have experiences that bring us happiness. We also have experiences that bring us pain and sorrow, some of which is caused by the sinful acts of others. These experiences provide us opportunities to learn and to grow, to distinguish good from evil, and to make choices. God influences us to do good; Satan tempts us to commit sin. As with physical death, we cannot overcome the effects of sin by ourselves. We are helpless without the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

      

II.   COURSE EXPECTATIONS

       The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. The first principles and ordinances of His gospel are faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We must then endure to the end. By applying these principles throughout our lives, we follow the example of the Savior, learn to live His commandments, and develop Christlike attributes. We can be forgiven of our sins, and we will be able to return to live in the presence of our Father in Heaven.

III.       TEXT

           The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price

           Other recommended materials include: For the Strength of Youth, Preach My Gospel, LDS Hymns, Gospel Principles, and The Ensign Magazine.

Note - We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

IV.       COURSE SCHEDULE

The following schedule is general and is subject to change. The tests listed below will not comprehensively reflect all the tests you will take in Life, but you will always know when it’s test-time.

The course readings are to be done by inspiration from the list provided in section II with emphasis on The Book of Mormon; as it is written for our time.

For Stage 1 your parents will do the reading for you.

Course Stages	Course Readings	Description
Stage 1	Ch. 1 Birth Ch.2 Early Childhood	You will be born to Earthly parents and be tutored by them.
Stage 2	Ch. 3 Baptism Ch. 4 Adolescence	You will be baptized and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which will be necessary as you enter into adolescence. If you are a boy, you will receive the Priesthood which is the power and authority to act in God’s name.
	Test 1	At 16 (at your parent’s discretion) you will be eligible to go on group dates.
Stage 3	Ch. 5 The Decade of Decision Note: You will be tested at every stage from here on out.	All worthy males should prepare to go on a mission at the age of 19. Worthy females may go on their missions at 21 after prayerful consideration. You will get married. You will begin a family. You will get an education. You will get a job.
Stage 4	Ch. 6 Middle Life	Your children will begin this Life course with you as their tutor through Stage 2.
Stage 5	Ch. 7 Retirement Ch. 8 Empty Nest	Your children will continue through the stages of Life with their spouses.
Stage 6	Ch. 9 Grandparent Ch. 10 Death	You will become a grandparent. You will cross the veil having completed the course. Congratulations!

4-8-2011 Courage

TOTD: Simple or profound - What is courage in your perspective?

Why: Courage has been on my mind A LOT lately. I couldn't even pinpoint when I began thinking about its implications, but stick with me; there's a lot to this one.

Courage is the most fundamental quality to learn and apply once you gain a conviction of eternal truths. Having a testimony but lacking courage will result in either hypocrisy or rebellion. That about sums up the thesis statement.

That statement cuts me to the core because I know it's true, and yet I still lack the proper portion of courage for what I feel to be a deep testimony of eternal truths. The fact is, most of us do. We can be convinced of the truth and still not be converted. That is what we are here to learn.

In our pre-mortal state we heard the Plan of our Heavenly Father, which teemed with truth, and we all shouted for joy. But just merely being excited for our purpose here didn't accomplish its ends. That would be as absurd as Lance Armstrong being told he could compete in the Tour de France after having beat cancer and him getting excited as if he had already won. It still took the work.

That's where courage comes in. Courage bridges the gap between conviction and conversion. Courage is displayed in the work, and often the work is very small.

In my TOTD I asked if courage was simple or profound. As always I received responses that agreed with my thoughts and many that differed, but none were wrong in my assessment; just viewed from different perspectives. Here are some of the responses I received:

      -  "Courage is your reliance on your faith" - Micah
      -  "Courage is doing what is right when the world says or does the opposite" - Dinah
      -  "[Courage is] a right to have an opinion and actually taking action on that opinion" - Kyle
      -  "Doing something that you're not comfortable doing but is the right thing to do or doing the not so popular thing which is the right thing to do" - Alyssa
      -  "Courage is the ability to honestly assess our weaknesses and correct them and make them strengths" - Aubry

Courage is something that is profound, but just look at the simple statements my friends/family used to describe this profound concept: relying, doing right, taking action, doing something uncomfortable, correcting weaknesses. In just a few words we can comprehend something that will affect us eternally.

So in answer to my own TOTD question, I say that courage is profoundly simple yet simply profound.

I realize that in my own life the most courageous things I could be doing could fit on a simple checklist: say family/personal prayers daily, do family/personal scripture study daily, do a Family Home Evening once a week, attend my church meetings, and so on.

It won't come as a surprise to many that know me that I actually DID make a checklist for myself... In fact, I went ahead and made a new version of the customized planner I have been working on:

 

Well, in conclusion, I think we all need to go back and watch movies like these:

All of which are based on true stories and depict men fighting courageously against the odds to do what they feel is right.

Thanks for reading (all 2 of you :))))