Layne's Lunch

 18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;  19 And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;  20 And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.  21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.   D&C 89:18-21 When I read the promise of the Word of Wisdom I tend to take the pragmatic view:  Can you run and not be weary?  If not, then perhaps you need to check your obedience to the Word of Wisdom.   However it goes deeper than that.   In years past the Mormons where held up as having better health than the average American.  This is no longer the case.  We are not singled out as having better health as a people than any other group.  Why is that?  Perhaps it is that most of the people in the United States h

      20  I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—       21  I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.       22  And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.  Mosiah 2:20-22

 11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.  12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.  Alma 7:11-12 My Thoughts: This scripture created more questions in my mind than answers.  For example: Why was it necessary that Christ suffer for our pains and afflictions.  Wasn't it enough to suffer for our sins? How could he have suffered for our sickness? Is this just talking about spiritual sickest, or physical sickness also?  If all things are spiritual, then maybe it doesn’t matter, because in God’s eyes they are the same.   Was it necessary for Christ to

22 And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;   D&C 109:22 As I pondered this scripture I thought about how the temple arms us with power.  It caused me to reflect on the incredible blessings that we are promised in the temple.  Last week I had the opportunity to go and do the initiatory ordinance for some family names.  I made it a point to listen carefully to the blessings we have been promised.  If that were all of the blessings we were promised by temple attendance, that would be incredible in itself.  However, we are promised much more.  The sealing ordinance provides blessings that are beyond our compression to grasp their significance in our eternal destiny.  While there are temporal blessings of protection that come from temple service, it is the knowledge of who we are and who we serve that gives us a gl

13 ¶If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.  Isaiah 58:13-14 I am pondering this scripture because of the phrase about the sabbath being a delight.  I have always thought that if we obeyed the law of the sabbath, then we would find delight in the sabbath.  But now that I think about this scripture in more depth and read it carefully, it says for us to “call the sabbath a delight”.  Calling the sabbath a delight is part of the commandment, not part of the blessing.  Often our church callings make the sabbath as much of a day of work as it is a day of rest.  S

 19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.  20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.  21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh;  22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live. D&C 84:19-22 My Thoughts:   The mysteries of the kingdom is the knowledge of God.  Why is this a mystery?  If we look at the world today, most people do not have an understanding of who God really is.  Without this, how can people come to know and worship him?  To most of the world the knowledge of God is a mystery.  We come to know God through the power of the priesthood and by participating in the ordinances of the priesthood.  What do the ordinances do?  They allow us to overcome physical and spiritual death and receive salvati