Genesis 1:11-13

This study makes me think of my garden outside. I planted some tomatoes and green beans and watched them grow. All I had to do was to be careful in giving them water on a regular basis and the Lord took care of the warmth from the sun. Too much sun would kill them and too much water too. So, I had the tree above to control the amount of direct sunlight. Not enough sunlight could kill them too. It is a tricky thing. Even weeds, snails, and birds can hurt a "crop." Just like anything good in this life it is difficult. I could not plant anything like I have done for years and let the garden area be taken over by the weeds and have land that is ugly and unproductive. I guess I don't have to start the analogies with our minds and our lives on this right? Too much of this and too much of that can kill the good things I think with my mind and I may never see the fruits of my good efforts. Predators can come and snatch the good things too. The easy thing is to just let any bad thing take over our thoughts and make it a plantation of weeds, ugly and unproductive. I think the Lord made the thing about planting this way so we learn something about ourselves too. We just have to think about it.

In this third day of creation we are talking about plants of all forms. Remember that the land came up and with atmosphere, heat, and water, as the Gods order the ground to yield "fruit" and "herbs" things started to happen. That process happened in many other planets and here was no different. To make that process continue in the next day we will see that they take care of the seasons. Planet and stars were around already but they had to create the right structure to provide for vegetation and animal life to exist. By the time the animals come there is already something to eat, shade for shelter, places to hide from heat or cold, etc.

The wording here is important because they order grass, herbs and fruit trees to come up "yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself." In the book of Abraham we read:

"And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass from its own seed, and the herb to bring forth herb from its own seed, yielding seed after his kind; and the earth to bring forth the tree from its own seed, yielding fruit, whose seed could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed."

Note that there is an emphasis that the fruits of the ground (grass, herbs, and trees) would come up of their own kind from their own seed. I think they mean that they were natural, that they would not mix like crazy and we would not have long pineapples hanging on trees with soft peal that we can open and eat like a banana. There is an order and things don't just mix. With genetic engineering we can of course create fruits like nectarine and make fruits not spoil and stay crisp for a long time or change their size. This is all true and when I take a bite of them I tend to ask my wife, wondering in my mind, what kind of cancer I am going to get with each fruit that I eat that has been modified by men. I think it is true that we have the power to change some things and that such an act will have a price in the end. I am not against science and I love the fact that the apples stay crisp for so long. I also like the amount of food that we can produce as opposed to Africa where people die of hunger. You would think that by the 21st century we would have learned as human beings how to dominate the ground and have it yield fruit for all the populations of all nations but it is not the case. Somehow the governments of Africa managed to keep knowledge away from people and they keep them hungry so we send money and humanitarian help to them and they don't have to work (the governments that receive the money and don't apply to the people.)

The Gods made this business about the ground perfect and we have the responsibility to learn to use it. Maybe a day will come when technology may fail us and if we don't know how to grow crops we may be in trouble. Maybe that will never happen but if we do grow some stuff, there will be a percentage of what we consume that will not be injected with hormones and stuff and we will be normal people. I wonder what the effects of all the addictive they put on food to make it more tasty and attractive do to our brains. Does it cause depression? Cancer? Same-sex attraction? Violence? Distractions? Attention disorder? Slow thinking? Chemical imbalances? Who knows? Maybe those things may come from birth but maybe it comes from birth because the mother is contaminated with stuff? I can only wonder what contamination by chemicals and genetic engineering in general does.

Fruits and vegetables, the herbs and stuff are supposed to be all good for us but what we buy out there maybe very well contaminated. I am not going to be a farmer and not buy stuff at Harmons anymore, but I think the prophets tell us to plant gardens so we somehow curb the effects of whatever Satan does to the stuff in the grocery store. We also must learn what is good and what is not if we want to be healthy, not eat too much, not eat this and that and start eating some stuff that we never tried and as necessary for our bodies. I hear from Weight Watchers that vegetables are always good for us. Are there bad vegetables? Are there things that make us tired or fat? I wonder what is good and what is bad since the Gods created all the things they created back when.

We cannot make a new fruit. We can combine stuff, but what we eat now, what the world has, is what came with the creation and I think it is fantastic. Think about it. Genetic engineering can only play with what exists. Nature will not invent an new fruit. We can deplete the planet with some kind of fruit or herb or grass but we cannot come up with new ones. That is proof of our limitation and that we must pay attention to that limitation and try to listen to what the Lord has to say to us about nutrition and the use of these things that came up from the ground on the third day.

I also believe that some things affect us spiritually. All vegetation we are talking about in this phase of the creation is spiritual in nature. They will become mortal after Adam and Eve use their power to cause decay to the world but at this point they are spiritual. Some of them will change their bodies. I don't think the prohibition on caffeine, tobacco and alchool are just because they are fun for the world and the Lord wants us to be unique. I don't think that a little will kill us (it may make us addicted) but I don't think that is the point. I truly believe that they affect our spirits somehow, just like the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil affected the bodies of Adam and Eve. The sin of our first parents was not chastity like the Catholic church made it look like, it was the word of wisdom. I wonder about this because the scriptures say that some celestial bodies are different in glory from others, the light is different, something goes wrong at some point and we are resurrected with different bodies and are limited in the end. Maybe there is a detoxification process between now and the final judgment but I do believe that the word of wisdom has a reason that is spiritual and not for this life only, like every other commandment. Addiction is one thing, but there's got to be something else or the Lord would not make it a commandment. Now this is not Mormon doctrine, this is what I think it is about the word of wisdom. So, if you ask me, I will tell you that we don't drink coffee, tea, or alcohol and we don't smoke or take drugs because it will hurt us spiritually - but some LDS people may tell you that it is because these things are bad for your body - which is right - now I think there is more to it and you know why.

Let's think of fruits and vegetables and think how we can improve what we consume so we eat like children of God and not like people of the world. There is much that the devil taught us about food over the years and maybe eating natural is boring but it may be divine. Let's just think about it before we put something in our mouth. Sugar should be our enemy, processed foods too. Is it hard to eat properly? Yes! Is it hard to be chaste in this world? Yes! Is it hard to be honest all the time? Sure! Everything that is good is hard and that is why I have to be careful not to kill my tomato and green bean plants... and that is why I would be careful and not kill my chances to go to heaven with a piece of cheese cake (but maybe cheese cake is heavenly... what do you think?)

Genesis 1:9-10

I was imagining the separation of the "waters" as described by both Moses and Abraham in different times, in different styles, to different audiences. The planet at this point is formed basically with an atmosphere, allowing for new things to be created in it. But before they start putting plants and animals, it is necessary that to make dry land. The wording is that the waters under the heaven would be gathered unto one place, to let the dry land appear (and they call the dry land Earth and the gathering of the waters Seas.) That is very simple and we all know that the dry land was one big chunk of land. With time the separated (during the great flood? Who knows?) but they did and if we observe the east coast of Brazil it fits perfectly with the west coast of Africa. That is a perfect example of what the dry land looked like in the past (one big continent.)

I wonder if it is going to go back to that one day. No one really knows. But the fact that it was all one big continent allows the Garden of Eden to be indeed in Missouri, for them to be expelled away from this land and for their children to create great civilizations to the East of that garden (that is, in the area where we get the first records of the creation from - the Middle East and West of Asia.

In the book of Abraham we read it this way:

"And the Gods ordered, saying: Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the earth come up dry; and it was so as they ordered; and the Gods pronounced the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, pronounced they, Great Waters; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed."

I like the text from Abraham because it talks about the elements "obeying" the Gods. It is not magic. It is not making things appear where they were not. The elements are being obedient to the commands of the power of the priesthood that they hold. Is the ocean obedient then? We would say that it is obedient to the moon that controls its borders. Remove the moon and tsunamis and inundations would happen like crazy. Life would not be possible but for fish. We must ponder upon this and learn that the laws of physics are there to be obeyed. They were probably set by the Gods but maybe they are eternal too and the Gods know how to work with them, not break them, but their knowledge of those laws and their power is so big that they can within those laws create in this sense that we understand by revelation, that matter organizes itself as one obeying the commands of a superior being. Jesus could walk on water, multiply food, revive a dead body, cure the blind and the lame, make the storm stop, make the tree dry dead. Moses could separate the waters of the dead sea, make the elements of his cane act as the elements of a serpent (so could the priests of Pharaoh), and make insects obey his command, and the waters of the Nile to turn red. Elijah could make an ax float and we have record in the Bible of a time when time stopped (they needed more time to finish a battle and "the sun stopped for a day."

The powers of the priesthood are greater than we think, it is the power of the Gods, and the elements obey to that power according to the will of the Lord. When Jesus says that by faith we can move a mountain, well we can! That is being done here in this very description of the creation. The Gods ordered and the dry land that was under water so far (because they needed to cool this planet down) is now coming up. I can only imagine the noise that it would make of rocks going against rocks, water coming down from huge mountains, the rocky mountains being form, the Aconcagua, Mount Everest, and the flat lands of Brazil and Africa, this huge mass of dry land coming up being seen by Gods from above. Can you see it? Can you imagine the whole thing happening? I can! It is amazing and exciting! And if I could keep this vision and understand that it is called obedience maybe the power of the vision of the creation would suffice to make me a more obedient man. We could all learn a lot if we understand that they are giving orders and that the elements are obeying them.

So far the Gods are "dividing things" though: darkness and light, waters above and waters below, earth and ocean." In all those phases of creation they said that what was done was good. Heavenly Father is always giving his opinion about the process and the words are "and God saw that it was good." We must remember that they are separating opposites necessary for our existence. We need light and darkness, water and dry land, the atmosphere and the ocean, and everything very well balanced... so life is possible. Heavenly Father says that those things are good. Although I dislike opposition sometimes, the fact that so much evil is around me, I must admit it is all necessary for growth. I think what is happening though, is that there is such an imbalance in this earth that God looks down and says "it is not good."

When the oceans cross their boundaries and kill many, when the mountains and dry land in general shake and kill thousands and thousands, volcanos erupt, rains don't stop, droughts kill animals and people by great numbers, we should understand that this earth is tired, that it is a living thing and it is obedient and something is not right upon its surface, something is not good. Eventually the Lord will say that it is enough. The creation was beautiful and there was a time of great peace after the commotion of earth coming to surface and the process continued. We are making it all bad. Maybe we should think of that too. Maybe we should think what is our role, which part we are choosing in this latter-days: are we the ones God looks down and an angel would say "and God saw that (your name here) was good"; or ware you those on the dark side of the opposites? In the middle? We must be careful and choose to be the good ones, the ones that obey, the ones that will bring balance to this earth and make life here better for the ones we love and for ourselves. Let's think about this. Let's give Gods a chance to say that we were obedient and that we were good too.

One God or Three Gods?

The vast majority of the Christian world think God is one being that manifests himself in three forms (The Trinity) based on a decision made by a group of men in 325 a.D. Those men never claimed to be prophets or that the document was given as a revelation of God but a consensus that took years to come into existence because of the disagreements to get to what it is. Many revisions exist of the Nicene Creed. The LDS Church does not adopt the creed, it is not Biblical, it is not prophetic. I read it and don't see many things that we should not agree with, it even says that there should be only one Universal Church, called there Catholic (Universal) and Apostolic (which word makes me think of the Apostles who did receive revelation) and one baptism.

If the Christian churches out there that adopted the creed read it carefully they should dissolve their incorporations and either join the Roman Catholic Church or the LDS Church as both claim to carry the priesthood (authority and power) given by Christ to Peter. But then, something is very wrong in the Christian world because they are divided and they do baptize each other into the other religions, the Roman Catholic church, mother of all the other churches, accepting those baptisms although the priests are not ordained with power from the Pope... except baptisms from the LDS Church. This tells a lot about both the authority and power of the Catholic Church and all the churches that sprung from it (Anglican, Orthodox, Protestants, etc.) We do not belong to the followers of the Nicene creed but we do believe there should be only one church and that the Trinity is composed of three gods: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. Here is an example of the incomprehensible understanding of God expressed by some churches:

There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

(...) In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

Interestingly enough in the baptism of Christ, Christ is in the water and a voice from Heaven says he is His son and they see the Holy Ghost descend upon him like a dove - according to this descruiption of the Trinity, the baptism of Christ a very theatrical thing where Jesus (for them Father in Heaven) is being a ventriloquist so they people think to hear a voice from Heaven stating that the person in the water (Christ) is His (the Fahter's) beloved Son. Also, Christ is being an illusionist as he produces the Holy Ghost' appearance in the form of a dove since it is Him (Christ who is in the water) showing himself as a dove at the same time. The answer they have to this is in the first paragraph I guess: that God is incomprehensible. But then, John would tell them all "“Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3).

How can we know a God that is incomprehensible and a God which definition is so confusing? Well, a boy testified in 1830 that he went to a grove to ask God which church he should join and a dark power came upon him and he could not pray anymore. Then the power of the Holy Ghost came upon him and he saw this light that came from heaven descending gradually upon him, dissipating all darkness. In the light he saw two personages that were beyond description. One called him by name and pointing to the other, said: "This is my beloved son. Hear Him." Those were two men: the Father and the Son. We know they are two separate beings because of revelation and not the decisions of men, not biblical, not prophetic. This vision of the young prophet Joseph Smith Jr. fits the experiences of Moses and other ancient prophets that described that God had a face, hands, back, feet, etc. Anyone can google those terms associated with God and see that it is a fact. Christ after his resurrection ate fish and honey to prove the apostles he was not a ghost. Let's follow what the Bible says and let's follow living prophets. God is a man and we can know Him, He is our Father, He wants us to know Him, He wants us to accept His Son, Jesus Christ who was resurrected with a body of flesh and bones, his body, glorified and immortal and we believe we will also be resurrected and have our eternal bodies and live with them, gods and angels, with bodies that are likewise glorified. I hope this make sense.

Genesis 1:6-8

This is the second day of creation and Moses is talking about the "firmament" in the midst of the waters. In the book of Moses we read the account pretty much like this one. Abraham lived in a land where they believed in many Gods and he talks in those terms, not because he wanted to please them, but because he could. Moses comes in a time way apart from Abraham. Moses talks to a people that were also in a land of many gods and I think that it was "safer" to talk that way. For Abraham it was not bad at all. So, this same account comes across this way:

" And the Gods also said: Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and it shall divide the waters from the waters. And the Gods ordered the expanse, so that it divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so, even as they ordered. And the Gods called the expanse, Heaven. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning that they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and this was the second atime that they called night and day."

We know of some Gods: Elohim (our Father in Heaven), Jehovah (Jesus), the Holy Ghost (not sure of his participation in that.) We also know that we are destined to be Gods and that Heavenly Father once lived as a mortal so we know there are more Gods. We should worship only one though, and OUR God is Heavenly Father, not Jesus, not the Holy Ghost. They do work together but we don't pray to Jesus or the Holy Ghost. If we get an answer from the Holy Ghost, from Jesus, or from Heavenly Father it does not matter: all that is good comes from one God. Sometimes they are mentioned as one God even in the Book of Mormon and that causes great confusion. I am posting a comment on this topic: One God or Three Gods?

The GODS (sweet word) are doing something fascinating here. Think that they are creating a planet and they just brought light to the chaos of this corner of the Universe. Matter existing everywhere and Abraham and Moses need to describer this matter somehow. They use the word "waters" and the Gods are separating matter and making atmosphere, the stratosphere, making sure this huge ball of fire calms down and solidifies and the elements are turning fast and there is water being formed, a lot of it, to cool down the masses below.

They are separating the waters in an orchestrated process of creation like we have not witnessed yet with any telescope. It is also spiritual as the creation has always two parts (everything being created in pure form and then becoming corrupt) but this planet we are talking about here is celestial, a celestial body indeed. The Gods are not playing with mud as we know mud. This matter is called water and the separation creates something above the waters that is called the firmament (I read about it and it is the expanse above but not the atmosphere where birds fly and all. The waters below are the oceans. It is a huge thing.

They are not going into details of daisies and dragon flies here, this is rough but perfect and beautiful. One day we may do that. The religions of men cannot see it. They don't consider these writings the words of one who saw what was being done, but the writing of naive peoples who considered the heavens fixed matter as in hard and solid with stars pinned to it. It is true that many ancient people thought that, but Abraham and Moses knew the truth and wrote what they saw in their terms, to their audiences, to their time.

As I was reading this and writing this I could see the process clearly and I could feel the power of the matters in motion. I have no doubt that this planet was created by Gods and it was done as they do it in other places all the time. I am not sure how often they create planets and stars but they can. We know people that can float in the air and telekinesis is not a trick - some people can move things with their minds. Multiply that power and other powers a million times and you can see the existence these beings we call Gods that populate the Universe and they are pure and powerful.

They cannot stop creating just like Satan cannot stop destroying, so we see what we see with the Hubble Telescope. Let's not be naive as we are modern and know better. This is the vision I have and this is the vision I need to keep but in a world where most of the time we see destruction and not creation it is easy to lose sight of the beauty of the firmament, of the waters above and the waters below. Satan is about destroying, decay, corruption, and this earth is as telestial as it can be. We will come to the point where what the Gods are doing here gets corrupted by Adam and Eve and the power they brought with them as children of the Gods, but for now just think of this: the work of the devil is not to create, to elevate, to enlighten.

If we embrace this telestial world and Satan's fads, vices, lifestyles, and answers our minds will not expand but shrink. Intellectuals and clerics are mostly intellectuals and religious thinkers of the knowledge of the world, not necessarily satanic, but earthly, limited, confused. I read what they write about the heavens and the earth and I see confused people speaking in an specific way to please each other and not coming to any conclusion but what they like to hear and say to each other. My mind is full of the images of truth and light and I can say I see the creation today, in this study, with more knowledge and light than any of these people that study one thing their whole life. I like the feeling and I love what I know.

Let's think about the skies, let's look at it now and then. Look at the stars, the moon, and the sun. It is not an accident, it is too perfect to be an accident. Explode a library and wait billions and billions of years and it will not produce a book. It is easy to believe in the lies of this world that make us an accident because then we don't have any rules except the morals that are convenient to us. But we are more than that. We are not an accident of the Universe. We have a purpose. There is a heaven, there is an earth, and the oceans will always calms us down if we listen to the waves because it was made that way, to sing to us, to have a lot of life in it, to testify to us that it is divine, as we are.

Genesis 1:2-5

As I was saying on the previous study, the first two verses are a sum of this account that Moses is going to write. I think also, that when he says that God created the Heavens (and I mean Gods) he is referring to all of the creations that Moses witnessed with his spiritual eyes in the vision of all the creations of God. Think of the Heavens as everything the Hubble telescope could show us and more. Imagine something like that amazing scene in Contact when she sees the nebula and the galaxies, stars, planets, etc. I like to think of those things. I like to think that there are greater things up there waiting for us to discover and when we do all this is going to be very small indeed. All the problems that plague this earth will be nothing really. But then, when Moses start talking about the earth as he does not go into detail on the Universe and beyond, he talks about light. Maybe the most important thing was done first and that is what we should learn here.

I am pretty sure light already existed. God was not in darkness. He is full of light. Jesus is the light of this world. So, to think that when he said "Let there be light" was the first time light appeared in vast blob of darkness is infantile and silly. Light was everywhere but then he gets to this corner and he is organizing an amazing planet. It is very easy to discredit this report and I want all to know that unlike many religions today we do not discredit the Bible's first 11 chapters. We do believe that God created the earth.

To "create" here as we understand, is more like to "organize." God is organizing. Matter to us is eternal. According to the Prophet Joseph Smith, matter and spirit are of the same substance, one subject to corruption the other not. We don't understand much of matter anyway. There are different ways we find matter, as in solid, liquid, gas, plasma (I think that is how we say it but I am thinking in Portuguese) but how about spirit? It think that is a form of manifestation of matter that we don't understand much because we cannot capture and study. So, when the gods around in this corner of the Universe they are putting together a lot of matter into a form that is first spiritual then it will become corrupt and life will become corrupt too and we get to the state where we are now.

But before he even starts the process, he "turns on the light" because life cannot exist without it. He had to set up the proper environment. No wonder we get depressed with not much light. I read books that told me that to fix depressing modes I had to turn on the light on a lamp and stay close to it, or go outside and feel the sunlight on my face. We must be surrounded by light to have a communion with God. We feel scared in the dark. Dark is a work that denotes evil. We all know that. Dark loses all the time as when you open the door to a dark room, it is the light that enters the room and not the dark that goes toward the lightened area.

It says here that God saw that the light was good and we all can agree with that. But we need darkness to rest don't we? What if we were all like in those northern countries where there is practically no night? I would be tired! They have to block the light to make darkness so they can rest. So, the record does not say that darkness is bad because it is saying that light was good. What I mean with the connotation that dark has to do with evil is that Satan uses all that is dark because in the end he will abide in complete darkness. There cannot be light where Christ is and Christ is not where Satan is. If we want to have the influence of Christ in our life we must agree that light is good and cling to light. Every time we embrace darkness we alienate Christ from our life. So, it is always good to pray at night, I think. I think angels can tend for us at night and bad things don't happen and we don't know why but it is because the war between light and darkness is always going on although we are not listening to the blasts here and there.

Have you all seen the animation on Toy Story 3 about night and day? It shows that both must exist and some beautiful things of this world and beyond can only be appreciated with light and some can only be appreciated with darkness. It is the world making a point there but it is in some way a good point. Opposition is defined in the first day of creation. Day and night, light and darkness. As much as I dislike opposition's effects because it is simply too much (well, the Lord knows when I disagree with Him, I will do what he says, but I can disagree with the excess in opposition in this life so there) I know it is necessary and he will continue making separations between this and that until he starts creating things to populate the planet.

I think we should meditate on this, on how many things in our lives brings darkness to it, and how many things bring more light. Let's shun from dark thoughts and fill our minds with light. Let's buy more lamps. Let's open the windows, let's walk outside, work outside, play outside! Let's embrace light and see the effects of light in our life. Satan has beautiful things to offer to us that need darkness to be pretty but we can all live without them. I love Vegas because it is beautiful at night, but then a lot of evil comes from Sin City. I think I can live without Vegas and I can appreciate Temple Square. The problem with looking for light in places and things that come from darkness is that in the end darkness gets you. All churches have some light because they read from readings of people inspired by the Holy Ghost. All that is good comes from God. I believe the LDS church has access to the source of all light because Christ is directing the church through his prophets. Religious people of all faith do a lot of good (light) because they draw from God's influence to serve others, they are motivated by light.

So, in the first day God divided the light from the darkness. Maybe as we plan to achieve eternal goals, the first thing to do is make the distinction between the two, see what is darkness and what is light inside of us, separate the two and choose light always. It is not easy, I know, but that is what we must do because it makes us move forward. Let's separatre darkness from light too, in our lives, and choose the light.

Genesis 1:1

The idea is to read the verses that I point out is what I read and then read the comment and maybe comment about what you think of the same verses. I love the Old Testament and the New Testament. The main reason is because when I joined the church the only scriptures I had read for real was the Book of Mormon because the missionaries told me to read and pray about it. Reading scriptures was not a thing in my house growing up. We were Catholics and it was not a tradition to read it. Maybe it is to some Catholics out there but I remember that my mom used to leave the Bible open in the house because it was the "holy" Bible, it was holy as in it emanated some good vibes or something, and for that reason, having it open with a little cloth over it, it would bless the house. I think the house would have been blessed more if we were reading it and discussing it as a family at least weekly. But that was not the case with me so when I read the Old Testament for the first time I simply loved it!!! It was in Seminary (a study that Mormon teens participate for four years reading the holy books: Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price (every year focusing on a different one.) But my mom thought that if I read the Bible I would go go crazy. That is what she would tell me and she would point to images on TV and in the streets of men holding their Bibles in the air yelling at people that they had to repent.

The funny thing in Seminary when I was 17 years old and going to the LDS Church to see what it was, is that when we were studying Genesis, there was a question that I had to read from Moses 1:5 I think. I looked for the Book of Moses in the Bible, and I looked, and then I looked again! I could not find it! I knew Moses was in the Bible but I could not find his book!!! Did I buy the wrong Bible? Well, the teacher told me the next Sunday that it was in Pearl of Great Price but that was one week after I was all disappointed... hehe. I learned that really fast. I loved every single study book. Oh well. Here is my impression of this first verse under the light of the restored Gospel:

When they say "the beginning" they are talking of a point in the fabric of time and not the beginning of God. That word needs to be understood as the beginning of the story that Moses is about to tell. Besides, the first verse here is a sum of the whole story that will unfold: God created the heaven and the earth means stuff in the other side of the veil and in this one.

I also want to point that "God" here is our Heavenly Father, but we all know that the god of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ and that creation was not done by God the Father alone. He would command, Jesus would do it, and then report back. The Gods created the heavens and the earth because it was the creation of our Father through the hands of Jesus Christ. That fact is very important to me because when I see something beautiful in this earth I have to remember that it was a creation of God: a person, the sunset, the sunrise, flowers, etc. we have to remember that they were created by Gods and pay respect for those creations. Can we do that? Isn't that seeing the hand of God in everything? There is a lot that I could say about this, but it is too late and I will send t his after midnight now. But i will send it because I am happy that I am reading all this again.

There many amazing stories here. Sometimes let me know you enjoy this. I know I write too much. Sorry. Have a great first day of this study and make sure you look at something beautiful today.

Scriptures: ancient and modern

After a period of 6 years reading the Book of Mormon from cover to cover but stopping when prompted to write a comment, I have a huge collection of commentaries on the scriptures that I have shared with my wife and children over the years via email. I am not going to post everything in this blog, but I would like to share my LDS mind with others.

These are my opinions of course. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I can only speak for myself. The church has its positions on doctrine very well spelled out in the Church's website and you can go there to learn more. The Mormon Church or LDS Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) is an amazing church and I believe the key to its success is that it is a practical religion. We believe in prayer, but above all we believe in service. You cannot be LDS and just sit during service and go home and be good. We must be engaged in a good cause. We must serve in callings in the Church and not expect a pastor do be paid to preach to us. We are the pastors and we give talks in church when our times comes to give a talk (during service - we call them meetings.) Every man must have the priesthood and bless his wife and children and when called serve as a Bishop (which you may call pastor) but the merits of the Bishop is his integrity and his capacity to be inspired by God to help us out... not a diploma on his wall and he does not get paid to do that. My Bishop works full time and helps the people in our neighborhood during his free time besides spending time with family and friends as much as he can.

We believe in living prophets and we have more scriptures than just the Bible. The Bible we use is the King James version. I am studying the Old Testament after finishing a 6 year study of The Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon from where the nickname of the church comes, does not replace the Bible. To us it is more scripture, another Testament of Jesus Christ. It is weird to some that there should be more scriptures besides the Bible, but it is better understood if you think that the original Christians, who were called Saints (the Bible says "saints") did not have a Bible. The Bible came up about 300 years after the death of the original apostles and when there was no prophets around. Until then, scriptures was the writings of the Jews - The Old Testament (as Jesus was a Jew himself.) When the people that made the Bible decided to put one together, they chose which letters from the original apostles they would include there and we have the additions to the original Bible called the New Testament. But even before the first Bible was put together and after for a long time, people did not walk around with Bibles either, that is a thing of after the Dark Ages, when the powerful church that ruled who could have scriptures and who could not did not stop people from printing it and distributing it to the populus (many people died to make that possible because the church of the time would kill people who had Bibles in their houses.) Until then, a person had to know about God from what they heard but not really read about His dealings with men through prophets.

These are different times and people forget that the Bible is a collection of books and the fact that there is a collection is because God talked to prophets back in the days. When a prophet came and started talking in the name of God people would kill them based on the fact that they had scriptures. Scriptures have been used to discredit the power of God for a long time. People like dead prophets for some reason. But God would not stop, and they would kill one, and He would call another one. So, we have many books in the Old Testament due to that fact: that God was active in the lives of his children through his representatives. When Christ came they used scriptures to kill him. They would not accept prophets because there is always "the last one" that spoke. But killing Christ was a big mistake. Christ still appeared to Paul in the way to Damascus, and talked to Peter to let the Gospel be preached to the Gentiles (a big change from His ministry that was only to the Jews) and to say that circumcision was not necessary and other things that were additions to what God had said to the prophets of old. He was not called Rabbi because they wanted to flatter him, but because he followed the law of Moses and preached the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel (the one who said circumcision was a must.) But you see? Things got added and it was OK.

Unfortunately Christianity adopted the Jewish model of denying that any more prophets can be sent by God and they will tell anything to make any prophet look bad. God looks down and thinks: "What is going on? Don't they read the Bible? Can't they see how I work?" and wonders why people did not like His model of a church with Apostles and Prophets and with Him telling prophets what He wants to say today. They will tell you that God is mute, that those days are gone, that all you can do now is read about Him. Not in the LDS Church. We have more scriptures because we believe God is alive and He cares about us. We know He works through prophets and modern man are not less deserving of revelation than the ancient ones.

So, my comments are on the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price and the words spoken by the living prophets. Imagine that you live in 15 a.D. and you are in a church and Peter, James, John or Paul just walked in. You either believe that your contemporary can be a prophet like ancient Moses or you don't. Same thing when you go to the LDS Church. I hope you like my comments and I hope the explanation helped.