http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99rJSvHytgM

What are the duties of a Priest?

Section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants explains in great detail what duties become your responsible upon becoming a priest:

46) The priest’s duty is to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the sacrament,

47) And visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties.

48) And he may also ordain other priests, teachers, and deacons.

49) And he is to take the lead of meetings when there is no elder present;

50) But when there is an elder present, he is only to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize,

51) And visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties.

52) In all these duties the priest is to assist the elder if occasion requires.

Looking at this list of the duties of a priest may prompt a feeling of being overwhelmed for many young men.  I remember the intimidation I felt as I said the sacrament prayer and officiated at the sacrament table when I turned 16.  The important thing to remember when taking the step from teacher to priest is that you are not expected to know everything immediately, and you are allowed mistakes.  Transitioning from a deacon to teacher to priest to elder is a development process.  It is well understood that young priests are learning their duties at their own personal rate.

Dealing with Social Pressure

The age for becoming a priest in the Lord’s Church – 16 years old- falls during a time in a young man’s life when he is experiencing a lot of physical and emotional development.  The timing of the two is likely not a coincidence.  Such experiences as learning to drive a car, taking a particular interest in girls, and growing more independent of parents run perfectly alongside the growing responsibilities expected by the Lord of one who is a developing priesthood holder.

Unless you live in an area where you are surrounded by strong members of the Church, most of your 16-18 year associates have a limited understanding of priesthood duties, especially because the Church is unique in its understanding that the priesthood ideally pertains to all males in context of the plan of salvation, which prepares  boys and men to ultimately possess the same authority and power God has.  Understanding that most your associates likely haven’t had the opportunity to learn the gospel as you have should bring to your mind the need for sharing those principles with them, and it should prevent you from making condemning judgments upon them while retaining your own worthiness.

The Church wants its youth to know that they are not alone in their beliefs.  Young men who are preparing to become priests can interact on the LDS Church Youth Web Site.  Here is one of the helps provided by the web site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHJoMvJadBg

For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations…who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it (D and C 123:12)

The inspired meaning of those words, written more than one hundred and fifty years before the invention of the modern Internet, has become remarkably clear considering how the modern world educates itself on matters ranging from trivial facts to the deepest of spiritual questions.  Whereas a person’s ability to find the truth of the restored gospel in the 1830’s depended upon the improbable occurrence of meeting an LDS missionary or gaining access to a copy of the Book of Mormon, our current technological environment facilitates the ability to efficiently spread the gospel throughout the world via the Internet.  The framework has been put into place so that sincere seekers of truth can now find and study the principles revealed to modern prophets using search engines such as Google or web content hosts that allow members of the Church to post personal experiences, videos and other web content related to the Church.  Our responsibility to share the gospel has been transformed by the Internet into an opportunity to reach a wider audience than we could ever reach without it.

There are several ways members of the Church can share the gospel online.  I will discuss some ideas that you can use to share your experience and testimony with non-members throughout the world.  So many venues exist (from using “microblogging” web sites like Twitter.com and Identi.ca to publishing images, videos, and gospel explanations on web sites like HubPages.com and Squidoo.com to creating your own WordPress blog using your own domain name) for describing your beliefs publicly for the benefit of others.

Getting Started: Social Sharing

The easiest way to begin sharing the gospel online is to simply bookmark Church content using a social sharing web site like Facebook.com.  Facebook allows you to “Like” pages on the Church’s web sites.  Recently, the Church has built in easy ways to share information on LDS.org and Mormon.org.

Share the Book of Mormon directly from Mormon.org

You can also set up free social bookmarking accounts on web sites such as Delicious.com or StumbleUpon.com.  Setting up an account with one of these social bookmarking web sites takes just a few minutes, and most of them are free to use.

After you’ve set up your account, you can begin bookmarking your favorite pages from one of the Church-related web sites.  When you bookmark a web page, you are telling others, including search engines, “I think the information on this page is worth sharing.”  When many people share the same page, the page can become much more popular, making it visible to a wider audience than it would reach otherwise.

Interacting with Church content on web sites like YouTube.com is helpful too.  For instance, if you create a YouTube account, you can “Like” videos from the Church’s YouTube channels (such as http://youtube.com/mormonmessages) and leave comments.  Having more views, likes, and comments on a video increases its popularity.

Microblogging and Creating Topic Pages

The next step up from social bookmarking is publishing information about gospel topics.  One of the main obstacles members of the Church face in sharing their religious beliefs online involves not knowing where to get started.  Here are some simple steps that can help you successfully publish your explanation of the Church’s teachings.

1.     Make a list of five gospel related subjects that you’d like to share with the world.  You might want to write about your mission experiences, lessons you’ve learned as a mother or father, benefits of living a chaste life, the gospel perspective on debt and family finances, or topics from the scriptures such as the gathering of Israel.

2.     Create a free account on http://www.squidoo.com.   Squidoo.com is one of many web sites that allow users to create free accounts and publish their favorite subjects to an audience already ready to read what you have to say.  Squidoo.com allows you to create “lenses” that describe your view of various subjects.

3.     Choose one of the topics from your list.  Write a few paragraphs describing the topic.  If it feels like you’re preparing a talk or a Sunday School lesson, in a way you are.  Only in this case you’ll be sharing with an audience largely comprised of people who are not very familiar with the Church.

4.     Find one or two videos from one of the Church’s many YouTube channels to embed with your Squidoo– http://youtube.com/mormon, http://youtube.com/MormonMessages, http://www.youtube.com/LDSPublicAffairs, http://www.youtube.com/MormonMessagesYouth, http://youtube.com/preservingmarriage, http://www.youtube.com/familysearch.

5.     Put together your first lens by inserting your description of the subject and the videos you’ve chosen to include.  Where appropriate, place a link from your lens to a related page on one of the Church’s web sites:  LDS.org, Mormon.org, FamilySearch.org, ProvidentLiving.org, ItsAboutLove.org,

The Next Level: Your Own Gospel Themed Blog

For those with the interest and available time, a gospel oriented blog can help speak to an ever-growing audience.  If you don’t feel like registering your own domain name and paying monthly web hosting fees, you can adopt a blog for free from the More Good Foundation, a non-profit organization with the mission of promoting opportunities to share positive information about the Church.  If you don’t already have a blog, but would like to set one up, you can register a domain for around $10 per year and set up a web hosting account for as little as $5 per month.  You can also set up a blog for free on TypePad.com, Blogspot.com, WordPress.com, LiveJournal.com, OpenDiary.com, or any one of the other free blog hosts available.

Getting Search Traffic to Your Web Site

I’ve seen many well designed web sites perform under their potential simply because they haven’t been optimized for search engines.  Here are some guidelines for making sure that your gospel centered web site or blog gets traffic.

1.     Get links to your web site.  When another web site links to yours, it has two benefits:  1) It brings people to your web page from the web site that links to yours; and 2) A link from another web site, especially a web site that is relevant to yours, tells the search engines that your site should rank higher.  The link text used to create the link to your web page also tells search engines that the page should rank highly for that term.  For instance, if a web page that discusses Christian beliefs about baptism linked the word baptism to your blog post that discusses the teachings of the Church regarding the importance of baptism, your web page will rank higher in search engines for searches related to baptism.

2.     Make sure that your web page content is optimized for search engines.  If you want your web page to rank highly for a specific topic, then you should make sure that the page gives all the right signals to the search engines for that topic.  That includes the <title> tag and the meta description tag.  The content of the page should use the phrase you want to target as a natural part of discussing the subject.  Any images you use on the page should be named consistently with the topic of the page.  The URL of the web page should also help search engines understand what the page is about. For example, a good URL about faith in Jesus Christ would be http://www.mygospelblog.org/faith-in-jesus-christ.  (If you’re using WordPress, you can easily configure your blog to accomplish that.)  Giving consistent signals about your page to the search engines, in addition to having links coming to your page from other web pages make it so that your web page ranks highly in searches related to the page’s topic.  If you follow these guidelines, your web page will be rewarded with visits from people interested in reading what you have to say.

Example:  Teaching About Life After Death

Consider this example.  Many people are interested in knowing what happens to a person after death.  Google’s Keyword Tool estimates that there are about 165,000 searches done each month for phrases similar to “life after death”.  Here’s how I would approach the goal of using search engines to share the Church’s teachings about life after death with as many people as possible.  I would create a post (or a page) on my blog entitled “Life After Death – What Do the Prophets Teach?”  In my post, I would refer to life after death in such a way that it is clear to the search engines that that is what my page explains.  I would include scriptures that describe what happens when we die (Alma 40:11).  I would reference the LDS.org study topic page about death.  Using the Church’s YouTube channels, conference talks published on LDS.org and other resources, I would put together a coherent and heart felt explanation of what the Lord has revealed about life after death, and I would publish it on my blog.

After I published the article, I would bookmark it using my Facebook account and my StumbleUpon.com and Delicious.com accounts.  I would send out a message using my Twitter.com and Identi.ca accounts referencing the new post.  I would ask friends to link to the post from their own gospel-themed blog posts.  Using the strategies recommended by the search engines (not spamming forums or using other unethical tactics), I would build some good links from relevant web sites to my web site, more specifically to the article I published on life after death.  In time, my article would begin to gather traffic to it, and I would see visitors coming to my page to learn about life after death.

Other Ideas

LDS.org has a section dedicated to sharing the gospel online.  You can find more ideas about ways you can share the gospel through the Internet by checking that page regularly.

Conclusion

Sharing the gospel online using some of the methods described above can be very fulfilling.  Using the Internet, there are more opportunities to do missionary work than you can imagine.  Finding a strategy that suits your preferences shouldn’t be difficult, and it is a good way to strengthen your testimony.  I’ve even found that my scripture study is enhanced as I put what I learn into an organized presentation and post it online.  I’ve appreciated the feedback I’ve received from people who read my web pages.  Making a record of my thoughts and impressions and publishing it to be read by an audience of Church members and non-LDS alike helps me feel like I’m contributing to the fulfillment of God’s intended use of the Internet:  to preach the gospel to the earth.

The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes from modern prophets, the first of whom, Joseph Smith, was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ.  Referred to as the First Vision, Joseph’s experience with the Creators of this world and many others debunked centuries of misunderstanding about God’s existence and nature.  The Nicene Creed, developed more than one hundred years after the apostasy of the original Christian Church, created a God who was somehow two people in one.  It removed the form and ultimate literal Fatherhood of God.  Joseph’s vision restored what was lost centuries before.

Elohim – The Father of Our Spirits

Modern revelation helps us understand clearly what God’s role and relationship to his mortal children is.  From spirit intelligence, which is made of a finer and purer matter than what comprises our mortal bodies, God created our souls long before this earth was created.  The purpose of that spirit creation centered around the concept of God’s eternal progression, which is manifest in the perpetual creation and development of offspring similar in nature and potential to himself.  God’s offspring inherited gender, male and female, which understanding leads us to believe that God has a female spouse.  In a favorite Mormon hymn, O My Father, is found the words “In the heavens are parents single?  No, the thought makes reason stare.  Truth is reason.  Truth eternal tells me I’ve a Mother there.”

God’s perfection and omniscience put him in compliance with eternal law.  He has a perfect sense of justice and mercy.  His plan for his children meant that they would have to develop spiritually to become like him.  Doing so required a separation from their Father, where they would be required to exhibit faith and obedience.  Essential to God’s plan for the development of his offspring was the preservation of agency, and his plan ensured that the ability of his intelligent offspring to choose for themselves would not be lost.  Those who desired to become like their Father could choose “liberty and eternal life.” On the other hand, they are also free to choose “captivity and death”.

God’s Firstborn spirit Son, who was known among the Old Testament people as Jehovah, developed through obedience and diligence to become perfected in intelligence and in compliance with eternal law so that his role during the temporal existence of this world would be one of intermediary between God the Father and his imperfect children.  Jehovah, or Jesus Christ as he became known during his earthly life, is the gatekeeper for those who wish to enter the kingdom of God.  His eternal sacrifice in Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary enabled his spirit brothers and sisters to enjoy the opportunity to reach perfection through faith, repentance, baptism, and other saving ordinances.

What does the Bible teach about who God is?

In the Bible, the God of the Old Testament is known as Jehovah.  Acting under the direction of Elohim, the Hebrew Mormons understand Jehovah to be Jesus Christ, the one who would come in the meridian of time to fulfill the role of Savior and Redeemer of all who inhabit the earth.

The Singles Ward takes a look at the funny side of LDS single life.

Following the story of Jonathan Jordan as his life is met with a series of unexpected setbacks (especially a failed temple marriage realized when Jordan’s wife hits a spiritual wall, which then leads to his own fall from faith), triumphs (including a rebound of faith and romance that are tied together, and everything in between, LDS cultural stereotypes are emphasized throughout the movie.  Among sub-cultures within the LDS faith, singles wards tend to have their own unique flavors.  The Singles Ward picks on many of the

Although I generally cringe at the depiction of  sacrament meetings (one of the more sacred meetings for Mormons) in a movie, I found myself chuckling about some of the difficulties portrayed in the movie of parents attempting to have a spiritual experience while monitoring energetic kids whose priorities obviously align more with their ages rather than their parents’ ideals for reverent behavior.  As a father of three kids, the youngest of which (just under a year) loves to make attempts at rushing the stand, I’ve lived that scene many times.  Many of the other depictions of conversations had in Mormon circles and among Mormon singles are somewhat close to being accurate, the main difference is that they’re portrayed by The Singles Ward with more humor than we tend to understand within our culture.

I liked this movie enough to watch it a few times.  I’d not really recommend it as a replacement for family home evening or Sunday School, but its entertainment value outside of those settings is worth an hour and a half.

Mormon.org/book-of-mormon/

• If you have access to a blog or web page, you can describe how The Book of Mormon has influenced your life and include a link to http://mormon.org/book-of-mormon/ so that people who read your web page can learn more about The Book of Mormon.
• You can visit the Mormon.org Book of Mormon page and “Like” it using your Facebook account. Doing so will allow your Facebook friends to recognize your interest in The Book of Mormon.

While serving as a clergyman in Sicily, Vincenzo Di Francesca discovered a copy of The Book of Mormon that had been discarded.  The book was so tattered that it was impossible for Vincenzo to discern what exactly the book was.  However, as he read the book, its contents inspired him, and he quickly understood that it contained true principles and doctrines.  Vincenzo began to read from the book during his sermons, referencing passages that clarified and gave greater meaning to the religious texts he normally used.

Others within the church, parishioners and other clergy, observed what was taking place.  Vincenzo’s loyalty toward the book soon set him at odds with his superiors in the church, who, despite their appreciation for his work in the ministry, held councils to dissuade him from using the unknown book.  At each level Vincenzo refused to disavow the book.

Ultimately he was ordered to burn the book or be dismissed from his position.  Refusing this order would result in serious consequences for a man who had dedicated his life and loyalty to his church.  However, having gained a solid testimony that there was something more to be gained by remaining true to the inspiration he’d received from the book, he made the choice that cost him his ministerial rights.

Having been rejected from his church, Vincenzo’s attention was more solidly fixed upon finding out what organization had published the book.  The next few years brought him the knowledge that he pursued, and he was eventually baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

How Rare A Possession tells Francesca’s story in a way that brings it to life and allows the viewer to deeply understand the price he paid for the opportunity to achieve eternal wealth.  I recommend the movie for anyone seeking to know more about The Book of Mormon and the church for which the book is the keystone.

The recent release of The Book of Mormon musical on Broadway have piqued interest in The Book of Mormon.  How Rare A Possession is a much better depiction of the purpose and influence of The Book of Mormon than the Broadway musical, especially since the creators of The Book of Mormon musical never intended for their play to be anything other than a way to use the name of a sacred text to mock religion in general.

The Church released a statement about the Book of Mormon Musical that very candidly and accurately describes the relationship between the new play that playfully mocks our religion and the Book of Mormon itself.

The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.

In June of 1997, when the Bulls came to Salt Lake City to play the Jazz in the NBA Finals, some people said that Dennis Rodman was one of our greatest missionaries after he made some disparaging comments about the Church, complaining that it was hard for him to “get in sync because of all the [expletive] Mormons“.  Although he was obviously not purposely promoting the Church, his comments brought up the question, “Who are these Mormons Rodman’s talking about?” among basketball fans, many of whom would have had no other incentive to pay any attention to the Church had Rodman not insulted the Church.  The benefit to the Church at that time was that people did ask about us as a result.  Undoubtedly there were some who came to see the Church for the example of good that it really is because of the negative publicity.

The net effect of the musical will likely be similar to what Dennis Rodman accomplished, except on a much greater scale.  The play has gotten and will continue to get much more attention than Dennis Rodman’s thoughtless statement.  The question still remains, though:  How should members of the Church respond to the secular world’s use of something sacred to us as an object of classless humor?  In the case of the Book of Mormon musical, there was a lot of thought – albeit from people who don’t rank very high for being thoughtful or respectful- put into their production, specifically with the intent of drawing a significant profit by making fun of religion in general and our religion in particular.

It’s natural to be ambivalent about situations like this.  On one hand, it’s disappointing that there are so many people in this world who are as ungodly as are the creators of the Book of Mormo.  After all, following the trend of their other productions, the play is laced with expletives and ultimately extremely crass.  It’s surely not the best way to spend a Family Home Evening nor a big chunk of your food storage budget.  On the other hand, if people like the South Park folks want to make fun of the restored gospel, it does give us many opportunities to explain the Book of Mormon, which has influenced so many millions of people for good, many times through channels, including this particular play, that only God could understand.

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for one of the boys in my ward.  It’s only the second Eagle court that I recall ever having attended.  I was impressed during the presentation at a lot of things, and I’m glad that the Church encourages boys to participate in the scout program.  In a letter from the First Presidency in 2001, the Church’s endorsement can be found in the statement “We desire all young men to strive to earn the Eagle Scout and Duty to God Awards.”  Many other statements and the

A few parallels between scouting and the principles of the gospel stick out in my mind.  The scouting program teaches boys to learn, to develop an appetite for improvement and progression.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is founded upon the concept of eternal progression, that station of intelligence a person achieves in this life will be to his benefit in the hereafter, not only that he will be closer to his goal of perfection, but his very nature is attuned towards learning and development.

Scouts, Morality, and the Priesthood
The scout oath includes the promise that a scout will keep himself “physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”  During my time in scouting serving as a merit badge counselor, an 11-years-old scout leader, assistant scoutmaster, and scout committee member, I have listened to many a scout recite that oath.  I’ve asked the boys from time to time to explain what those three things mean.  I’ve gotten varied answers from them.  Some have understood better than others the implications of the aspirations contained in those words.  The Eagle recipient whose court of honor I attended tonight seems to be extremely sober, having his priorities well defined and his course set.  The things he’s learned in scouting reinforce his calling as an Aaronic Priesthood holder.  Although I could do without some of the silliness involved in scout songs and traditions, I’m willing to be patient with those imperfections as I intend on raising my boys to be worthy priesthood holders and Eagle Scouts.

I’ve read Genesis Chapter 3 more than a few times, but while I was studying that chapter tonight, verse 22 stood out.  Earlier in the chapter, the serpent tells Eve that by partaking of the forbidden fruit, she and Adam would become “as gods” in connection with the consequential understanding of good and evil.  The use of the plural reference “as gods” will likely be dismissed by those who want to contend that Jesus Christ and His Father are one and the same.  That phrase was used by Satan, whose words obviously cannot be taken at face value.  However, read carefully how “the Lord God” comments on the situation:  “Behold, the man is become as one of us.”  This explicit reference to there being more than one God speaking to Adam in the Garden of Eden is reminiscent of Joseph Smith‘s description of the two members of the Godhead who spoke to him.  There was dialog between them, but they spoke in full harmony with each other.  They are one in purpose, united in perfection, but they are two distinct individuals.  This verse, along with many others in the Bible, confirm the teachings of modern prophets.