Which way is your tent facing?...

In Genesis 13:13, we learn of a city called Sodom where men “were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” This city was wicked because of its immorality, idleness, pride, gluteny, refusal to help the needy, etc. The Lord was angry with Sodom because “their sin [was] very grievous.” (Gen. 19:20) These grievous sins ultimately ended up destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are many lessons that we can learned from the actions and fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Just like in the times of Sodom and Gomorrah, we also live in a wicked and evil time where many people have the mentality of “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.” (2 Nephi 28:7) At every turn we find ourselves in the face of immorality, corruption, dishonesty, and so much more. It is hard sometimes to find a safe haven where we can metaphorically “pitch our tent” towards something of safety and Godliness. It may not be easy, but we learn from the example of Abraham that it is possible.

Abraham was a man of God and after separating himself from Lot, he “removed his tent and came and dwelt in...Mamre...and built an altar unto the Lord.” (Gen. 13:18) When finding himself in a compromising situation, Abraham was the ultimate example of what we need to do in our lives when faced with evil and wickedness. We not only need to turn away, but remove our tent and pitch it in a holy place where we can feel of the Holy Spirit. This may be to the temple, the church, or most importantly our home. Which ever place we choose to pitch our tent, we need to make sure it is a safe haven that we can rest from the temptations of the world.

In 3 Nephi 13:24 we are told that “no man can serve two masters.” This is the same with the way we pitch our tent. We cannot pitch our tent two ways, so we must choose whether to pitch our tent towards the Lord or to pitch it towards Satan. Lot is a perfect example of what happens when we choose to pitch our tent towards Satan. We are told in Gen. 13:12 that Lot “pitched his tent toward Sodom.” We are not told how Lot progressed to live in Sodom, but we find out in Gen. 14:12, that Lot “dwelt in Sodom” along with “his good”. From these scriptures we see that by facing his tent towards Sodom, he was eventually enticed by the lifestyle and moved into the middle of all the wickedness.

Many of us “pitch our tents towards Sodom”by certain actions and decisions we make in our lives. Many times we give into the temptations of Satan because they present the idea of fun, easiness, ways to avoid trouble, etc. When giving into these temptations, we submit ourselves to Sodom just like Lot did. If we flirt with temptation for too long, we will no longer be able to resist it and we will move right into living and thinking the same way the world does. There may be times of pleasure, but in the end it will destroy us just like it did Sodom and Gomorrah.

I know that we live in a time of great wickedness, but there is much righteousness as well. We need to make sure that we find those places of righteousness and cling to them so that we do not give into the temptations that are around us. We are blessed with God's true church upon the earth and I know if we follow it's teachings that we will be protect from the storm. It is not going to be easy by any means, but I know it is possible!

What we can learn from the story of Cain and Abel

**Here is my first blog post for my Old Testament Class**

Many of us know the story about Cain and Abel from the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. Have any of us actually taken the time to really dive into the story and find principles that we can apply into our lives? The important part of the story is not just the well known part of Abel being slain by Cain, but how Cain got to the point where he could actually take the life of his own brother.

In scriptures from both Genesis and Moses, we find that Cain had more sinful acts than just murdering his brother Abel. Cain's problems stemmed from the fact that “Cain loved Satan more than God.” (Moses 5:18). Because of his love for Satan, Cain did not respect the Lord and ended up giving an insufficient offering to the Lord. The Lord did not respect the offering that Cain presented and Cain “was very wroth” (Gen. 4: 5) with the Lord. Joseph Smith expounds more in the Old Testament Student Manual about why the Lord felt Cain's offering was insufficient. “[Cain's offering]... was not accepted, because he could not do it in faith” and “whatsoever is not of faith, is sin.” Why is that faith was required to be part of Cain's offering? Because one must have faith in the Atonement of Christ and their ability to be forgiven by the Lord in order to receive the forgiveness and blessings that come from an offering. Cain needed to realize that there needed to be a sacrifice on his part so that he could show that he understood the sacrifice that the Savior made by giving up his life so that we may all be forgiven of our sins and live again. Even though Cain lacked the faith to make a proper offering to the Lord, the Lord did not give up on Cain and told him to repent or “he would rule over Satan.” ( Gen. 4:7)

Just like Cain's unacceptable offer to the Lord, our own offerings can be unacceptable as well. Many times in our lives we are just “going through the motions” and “doing what we are suppose to be doing” but not actually thinking about why we are doing those things. From the story of Cain and Abel, we learn that the Lord requires us to have faith in our offerings so that he can accept them. We need to exercise more faith in every aspect of our lives whether it be our prayers, scripture study, service to others, fast offerings, tithing, etc. With that added faith and conviction that what we are doing is pleasing to the Lord, we will end up receiving more blessings that will help us in our time upon this earth. We will also receive more strength to resist the temptations of Satan so that we do not give into him like Cain did.

When the Lord did not accept Cain's offering, Cain “was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” (Moses 5:21) Instead of accepting the Lord's offer of repentance and forgiveness, Cain “listened not any more to the voice of the Lord.” (Moses 5:26). From that point on, Cain began to converse exclusively with Satan and secretly plotted out to kill his brother Abel. After seeking his brother out and slaying him, the Lord came to Cain and asked “where is Abel thy brother?” and Cain replied “I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?” (Gen. 4:9). The irony of Cain's question is that we ARE our brother's keeper. Many times in the scriptures the Lord tells us that we need to “love our neighbor as thy self” and that statement alone places a responsibility upon us to serve and love our family, friends, and neighbors.

The story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10 in a perfect example of how lots of people get wrapped up in their own judgmental and selfish lives. How many of us would have been one of the people that walked to the other side of the street to avoid the unknown injured man that was dying in the middle of the road? I hate to think anyone capable of doing that, but how many times in our lives do we do similar things? There are times in all of our lives where we have seen someone in need and should have reached out a helping hand, but we used the excuses of having no time, not knowing the person, being scared of rejection, etc. In those situations, are we not responding to the Lord's question that same way that Cain did? “ Am I my brother's keeper?” Instead of a question, it should be a statement that reads “I AM my brother's keeper.” I know that I need to do better to follow the Savior's example of charity and love for all and be better about reaching out a helping hand no matter what the situation. We all have a responsibility to be our brothers keeper.

In Alma 3:27 it reads “every man receiveth wages of him whom he listeth to obey.” We all have agency to choose who we are going to listen to and obey. We can either choose to follow the Lord or to follow Satan. Our purpose in this life is the prove the we are worthy to return to live with our Heavenly Father again. We prove our worthiness through the choices and decisions we make upon this earth. We have that opportunity to choose because of the agency that was given to us by the Lord. Cain had the same agency that we all have. He could have chosen to repent of his insufficient offering and reject Satan, but instead he chose a path of unrighteousness that lead to the killing of his brother and a life of sin. We all have the agency to choose what we want to do in this life, but just like the story of Cain there are consequences to every decision that we make.

I have a testimony that if we choose to serve the Lord and have faith in him, that our lives will be extremely blessed. Satan has nothing to offer except a life of heartache and misery. I know what it feels like to fall to temptation and the feelings and consequences that come along with it are not worth it. Choose to stay on the Lord's side. His side is one of true eternal happiness. I know that if we make good choices and focus on getting to know the Lord better, that we will will become better and our lives will be blessed because of it. I know this church is true and that the stories that we read in the Old Testament really did happen. I know that the principles taught in the Old Testament are still applicable to us today and if we choose to apply them into our lives we will be blessed. I encourage everyone that reads this post to make the choice found in Jos. 24:15 “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”