Charity: Killing With Kindness

Taken from LDS.org

How’s that for a fun title? XD I’ve been studying the Teachings of the Presidents lately; my ward finally had a bunch of hard-copies show up one day, so yippee! I’ve been studying Joseph Smith’s lesson on charity (that’s Chapter 37, if you wanna follow along XD) Charity is one I really need to study thoroughly to understand it. Being an Aspergirl doesn’t help; pretty much anything regarding emotion or how to treat others has to be explained to me in mind-numbing detail. Until then, I can’t figure out how to actually apply it. You can’t just say “be nice” to someone with Aspergers. It doesn’t work that way.

And yes, we have brains like aliens. Deal with it. XD

Anyway, I’m rambling. Today I had a fun study from the words of Joseph Smith on what it means to have charity… Due to what I said above, I’m glad the church leaders go into such detail on these things. One section in particular caught my eye, which talked about how to deal with those who wrong you. In essence, it says, “Have mercy on the sinner; a kind word can turn away anger. If he repents, he becomes your friend. If he won’t repent, God will destroy him” (You know, like anyone else).

It reminded me of a curious train of thought I had a while back. When someone really hurts you, it’s so easy to not want to forgive them, because you want them to be punished. It feels kinda like a court of law, isn’t it? If you don’t “press charges,” who’s going to deal justice? But that’s not how forgiveness works at all (God be praised). Forgiving someone just lets us take the load off our shoulders. God’s gonna cover us all by the end of the day; we don’t have to do anything at all.

What’s this have to do with charity? Well, Christ said to love your enemies, right? It’s similar logic. Nobody wants someone else to suffer. Not really. When you really think about it, it’s more like…you want them to change, and feel like they won’t unless they suffer. At least, that’s how it was for me. Cuz if someone stops hurting you and changes their ways, they stop being your enemy. Right? Because who wants enemies?

That’s why charity is so important. When we “have mercy on the sinner,” we love our enemies, as Christ would have us do. That gives them the chance to change. It’s the only thing that gives them the chance to change. Then they can take your kindness and feed their own broken souls. Without that, they don’t have the strength to change. And if that’s still not enough, well…then they dig their own graves. God will deal with them for you. But if your kindness reaches them, then enemies can become friends. And then you won’t have anymore enemies, will you? It’s just the smarter choice to be charitable.

Destroying enemies by turning them into friends…It’s kinda like killing with kindness. 😀

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Thanks for reading, y’all. I hope you enjoyed this post, or at least took something useful from it XD If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts! So whether you like, share, or comment, all feedback is appreciated. Seriously, I don’t write posts ‘cuz I love the sound of my own voice. I want to learn from you as well! And I can’t do that unless I hear back from you guys. So please, if you have anything to contribute – or even just want to say you liked this – let me know! It’s not like I know any other way. And as always, keep reading your scriptures, guys! You will find gems of knowledge, I promise! 🙂

Charity: Love For All God’s Children

Christ With The Children, by Harry Anderson (lds.org)

Alrighty! I plan to keep this one short today – for real this time XD I had an interesting study today. General Conference was AMAZING this week, and I could say SO much about that, but it’d take forever. I took almost 5 pages of notes, and got answers to every question I had! Where would I start? XD

After the conference, I felt prompted to study more about charity, since that’s something I struggle with (don’t we all). So, I spent over an hour this morning, reading from all different books to find the meaning of charity. I learned a lot: Charity is kind, charity is not prideful, charity is humble enough to put others first. Charity is able to say, “I’m not more important than you.”

One thing in particular stuck out for me though.

Finding Spiritual Guidance In The Oddest Places

There’s a reason I read the Book of Mormon every day. Don’t discount something just by what you hear. You may be missing out.

Alright, I’m writing this one more to my Christian friends today. And I’m just gonna cut to the chase this time. Because I know a lot of Christians claim “Mormons are not Christians,” and frankly, I’m sick of it. Seriously. How many of you have actually asked an LDS Christian what we believe? How many of you have even touched a Book of Mormon, much less read a page from it? Do you have any idea…ANY idea…what it’s about, beyond the rumors you’ve heard?

I wasn’t going to write about this initially, but I really felt like I should. I used to be a non-denominational Christian. By the common definitions, I was Christian before I converted. But I had huge holes in my understanding of God and the scriptures, serious enough that I couldn’t even read the Bible. It filled me with anger to even try. Spiritually speaking, I was in a very dark place. It wasn’t something I could get out of on my own. Trust me, I tried.