Insights Gained Throughout the Semester

Over the past couple of months, I have focused on looking for pictures or paintings that represent my thoughts or what I have read. In the New Testament we read about Jesus Christ from the very beginning of his birth, his miracles, and at the very end, his death and resurrection. This journey has been interesting in finding out the perspective of artists and how they depict or tell the story of Jesus. My favorite creations that i have found where the ones that involved cut glass and where displayed as windows. The amount of colors and brightness used in them makes the glass creation a beauty. I could stare at them for hours and really connect with what the artist portrays. Other pictures show Jesus angry, for example when he casts out the people out of his temple. I was able to feel the frustration he felt through the painting and learned how important and sacred the temple was. Overall, all the paintings I have shared i have really liked, but my favorite will always be the portrait of Jesus Christ that the church come out with.

This is by far my favorite picture of Jesus. i think the artist did a great job in Jesus' facial expression. The picture has an illusion in which we can see Jesus Christ showing us two emotions in his face. One, if the left side of his face is covered his right side demonstrates kindness, love and compassion. The second, if the right side is covered, the left side of his face shows seriousness and even makes him look mad. I like that you can see both emotions because that is Jesus Christ's true nature. At judgment he will show compassion towards us but will not tolerate injustice.

Jesus Christ is our older brother and saved our lives by sacrificing his. Over the semester i learned that he is just like us. He is not some sort of robot that we cannot explain his actions. He looks, act, and lives like us. The pictures i shared where able to make me truly conceptualizes Jesus Christ as someone like me. This encourages me to strive to become like him because now i have a better knowledge of knowing that i can!

Matthew 28, Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21

In Matthew 28 we learn of Jesus Christ's ressurection. An angel speaks unto Mary and tells her to gather up his desciples. I am amazed at the ignorance and denial that the Jews have when they pay the soldiers to say lies and say that Jesus was taken at night. Some, their faith was weak,

 16 ¶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some adoubted.

 18 And aJesus came and spake unto them, saying, All bpower is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

" 16 ¶Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
 17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some adoubted.
 18 And aJesus came and spake unto them, saying, All bpower is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

Even his desciples doubted that he was ressurected. It is natural for the man to doubt but thats why we have the spirit to discern from truth and lies. We need to be strong to be able to discern from that and not doubt like his desciples did.

Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John18:28-19:42

In this section of the scriptures we are able to learn about the compassion of great leaders and the influences of Satan too. When Jesus is sent to Pilate the people want him dead. However, Pilate keeps reapeating to them that he sees no fault or crime. The people constantly beg for his crucifiction and Pilate doesnt want to kill Jesus. he evn tries to convince him to fight for his life,

 10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no apower at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater bsin.

 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a aking speaketh against Cæsar.

 "10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no apower at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater bsin.
 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a aking speaketh against Cæsar."

We find out that Pilate is not a bad guy but he is also not strong enough to fight for what is right. We mus be carefull to not act as Pilate and always be strong members and fight for what be believe.

Matthew 26:36-75; Mark 14:32-72; Luke 22:39-71; John 18:1-27

 While I was reading this week, I was able to really feel the love Jesus has for me and everyone else. In one last act of the natural man, Jesus "39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and aprayed, saying, O my bFather, if it be possible, let this ccup pass from me: nevertheless not as I dwill, but as ethou fwilt." This scripture demonstrates to us how Jesus is also a human. He has carnal thought, emotions and feelings. He is going through allot of pain and if it were up to him he would want to be done with it as soon as possible. But when he saus whatever you will may be Heavenly Father, he shows us the love he has for us. He loves us so much and want our salvation that much that he is willing to go through all that pain for our salvation. I learned that what i suffer here on earth isnt nearly what Jesus Christ went through. It is a humbling scripture. 

Matthew 26: 30-35; Mark 14:26-31; Luke 22: 31-38; John 15-17

In matthew 26 we learn evenmore about Jesus Christ' divinity when he can forsee and predict the behavior of his desciples and yet they still question him. We must never deny the name of Jesus Christ. He is our savior and knows us personally.

Matthew 26:1-29; Mark 14:1-25; Luke 22:1-30; John 13-14

I really liked these few words that Jesus shares with his desciples. Even at the end of his life when he is captured Jesus shows us a little humor and a lesson to learn.

 "51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a aservant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.
 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall aperish with the sword.
 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
 54 But how then shall the ascriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"

He demonstrates to us the humilty he has that he is willing to go with these men to be sacrificed and not put up a fight. He tells them i can have angels destroy you and protect me but yet i dont and you still dont belive me? This teaches me that no matter how afflicted i may feel in life i should always follow the gospel and the teachings that go along with it. 

Matthew 25; D&C 45:56-59

We discussed in class the significance of the story of the ten virgins. I liked the last two verses of the story,

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I ^aknow you not.

13 ^aWatch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

I like this because Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and his people are the virgins. We must be ready at all times for when he comes for us. We need to remeber to always be prepared and to listen to what he asks us to do. If we are not prepared he "will know us not" and will close the door on us because we willfully rejected him knowing the consequence. In my life u must always remeber to stay strong in the gospel and share it with others. 

Matthew 23-24; Mark 13; Luke 20:45-21:38; JS Matthew

In these chapters from various disciples we are taught to be prepared for the second coming. At the end of each chapter it talks about how we must keep "watch" for when Jesus Christ comes back, for we know not when. he could come at night or in the day. Which ever time he comes we must be ready to present ourselves to him. Then Jesus shres the parable of the fig tree and how this signifies the signs that we must remeber to look for. The principle that is taught here is to live the gopsel everyday of our lives, for we must be ready to meet the lord every day of our lives. 

Matthew 21-22; Mark 11-12; Luke 19:28-20:44; John 12

I really like how we where able to read similar chapters writen in different perpectives by the disciples. One story that remains the same throughout Matthew, Luke, John and Mark is when they recall Jesus cleansing the temple and casting out those who are not praying. In all these chapters Jesus' saying stays the same, "And said unto them , It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." This simple verse teaches us that Jesus Christ does get angry and is not tolerant of injustice. It also teaches us the principle of sacredness. A temple is a place where we find peace, come to pray, and meditate. It is not a place to involve worldy things and Jesus makes this point by casting them out of his father's temple. We must remeber to keep the temple a sacred place, this can also apply to our homes.

John 10-11

I really liked the very beggining of John chapter 10. Jesus shares a parable to his disciples and the people about the shepherd and his sheep. The first two verses are my favorite, " 1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

 2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the^asheep."

What i was able to get out of these verses was how to determine somethin is from good. To us this might be simple because we are in the right church and we know that it is true. But we can also use this parable for smaller things in our lives. Such as when we are faced with trials. This is a good way to know if it is a trial from god or if it is a temptaion from the adversary. I like how Jesus goes on further to explain the parable and state that he is the door and through him only the good stuff will enter. If we are obedient then we will be able to discern right from wrong. One thing that I can learn and use this week from this parable is to fine tune my hearing skills to listen to what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want me to do. 

John 7-9

I really like how in chapter 8 we learn from Jesus Christ mercy, forgiveness and not to judge. My favorit verse is 7, " 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without ^asin among you, let him ^bfirstcast a ^cstone at her."

Many times we ourselves are guilty of being quick to judge others. Ultimately we have to remeber that it is not up to us to judge others but only our Heavenly father. We have to remeber to be loving and forgiving of others because higher authority is in charge of dealing with the complicated not us. OUr job is not to judge but it is to love one another. I know that i am one to judge allot and i think that my goal this week would be that when a judging thought comes into my mind about someone, then i would have to think two good things about that person. 

John 5-6

In John I really like the symbolism Jesus Christ uses when he compares himslef to the bread. Jesus had just fed the five thousand with the five loaves and two fishes. He tells the people that they have just partaken of heaven from bread. Then he tells them that there will be a time in which, verse 51, " 51 I am the living ^abread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the ^bbread that I will give is my ^cflesh, which I will ^dgive for the ^elife of the world." 

Here he is talking about the sacramnet. We will partake of the bread and the water as a symbol of his body and sacrufuce that he did for us. We must partake of the sacrament to cleanse our sins and be forgiven,

John 3-4

I like how in chapter 3 of John, Jesus is talking about Baptism. Nicodemus approaches him and aknowledges his as a Rabbi of god for he has performed miracles that are not explainable. Jesus shares with him how in order to be saved people must repent and get baptised and be reborn. Nicodemus tells him how can this be possible if an old man cant return to his mothers womb. I like what Jesus says, "If i have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavnely things?" I like this because it teaches us to be faithfull and beleiveing of the things that we are taught in church. We must not question them because we must learn to understand the earthly things first in order to understand the heavenly things. 

John 1-2

In John we get to hear more on the background of the stories that are taught by the other desciples. I like how in chapter two we can learn how sacred the temple is to Jesus Christ. When they go to the temple for passover, Jesus sees that many people hold it as a market place. he scourges them and casts them out of the temple. He shares this messgae to them, "Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise." I like this message because we can still hold that tru in this day. Our temple is a sacred place where peace and reverence should be the only things around. This is also regarding our bodies and we must learn to take good care of them and treat them as a temple. The principle taught here is sacredness and learning how to use it. I will keep this in mind this week as how i treat my body and also, when i go to the temple. 

Luke 17-19:27

In this reading I focused on the teachings of Jesus Christ in chapter 18. Here, Jesus Christ shares the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. He wants us to understand that in the church, as members, we must be very carefull to judge others. I like how he says verse 14, "I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalted himself shal be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exhalted." None of us are perfect and this is the reason why we come to church, to help us better ourselves. All of us are on different spiritual levels and of progressions aswell. We must be very carefull in comparing ourselves to others in the church and making oursleves think that we are better than them. The principle of entitlement is what is taught in this parable to obe weary of. We must learn to be humble and not to jusify ourselves. 

Luke 13-16

I really liked chapter 15, specially the story of the Prodigal Son. The two sons ask for their inheritance unto their Father and they are given thier equal portions. One goes and leaves the land and spends all his savings with wordly possesions. He uses it all up and is poor and now he has to eat poorer than his fathers servants. He realizes that he has done wrong and wants to go to his father to repent and apologize. His father greets him and celbrates that he was dead but now is alive. I think that we can realte to this story in so many ways but one way directly is that we are that son and the father in this story is our Heavenly Father. He has sent us to this world with everything that we have inherited and it is up to us to know how to use it wisely. Everyone of us has made irrational choices ans sins in this life. Heavnely father knows this and it worries him. But what makes him happy and helps us grow is when we realize that we have done something wrong and are willing to fix it. The prodigal son realized that he had acted wrong and sincerely wanted to apologize to his father. Every sunday we have that opportunity to reflect on the things we have done bad and with a sincere heart be able to repent and take the sacramnet. Now the other son who had always been good is upset, but his father tell him that everything that he owns is his. We also must be weary of this type of attitude because just because we do all that is right our hearts and minds must be in the same place. 

Luke 9-12

I liked the principle of personal revelation. In chapter 9 Jesus Christ is praying with his disciples by his side. Jesus Christ asks them, what men think he is. And they tell him that they think he is John the baptis or other risen prophet from the past. But the he asks his deciples who they think he is. What great faith did Peter have because he was able to have the faith and personal revelation to know straightaway that he was the living Christ. This motivates me to become a better person and be able to be worthty to receive personal revelation at all times. I also like this scripture that ties in really well with this thought, "24. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."We must be worthy and willing to give up or lives for the purpose of building up of Zion.