The ABCs of Godliness.

I've decided to blog a little about our new FHE system. 

This Monday, after reviewing from our family record the principles taught in D&C 93 and 76, we began looking at D&C 84.

"What are the keys of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood?" I've asked this question to both Gospel Doctrine classes and now my Institute class. Without fail no one knows. Think about that. Really. Think about it. All of us know what 8x8 is, but the keys of the priesthood are not found within our permanent memory banks.  

Although the function of "keys" is to open doors to greater things, one cannot open doors if one doesn't even knows he/she possesses such keys! 

Will it be said of the latter-day Ephraimites: These are they who had the fullness of the priesthood and all the keys necessary to seek the face of God. Nevertheless, although they obtained the keys, they remained ignorant of their use. Hence, they failed to access that which was of most worth because they took lightly those things which they had received. Hmmm.....I sure hope not.

So--as my girls are learning their multiplication tables and sight words, I thought it was high time to learn their "Godliness ABCs".

Aaronic Priesthood:

1.) Key of the Ministering of Angels

2.) Key of the Preparatory Gospel

Melchizedek Priesthood:

1.) Key of the Mysteries of Kingdom

2.) Key of the Knowledge of God

Next we learned about the Priesthood itself, which is the Power of God on earth.  

Stick with me here, because this is important, and it an easy way to teach the concept. In D&C 84:20 Christ says that the power of Godliness is made manifest on earth through ORDINANCES. This is very important to understand.  I successfully taught it to the girls, and to my class by a simple analogy that goes as follows:

In the church each individual has a house. Each house needs access to something greater. In our analogy that something greater is the internet. When you need the internet hooked up to your house, you call the internet provider.  A man comes to the house to hook up the Internet. You can't see the internet in your house, but once he hooks it up, you can connect to it. There are different speeds of internet--dial-up, DSL, Cable, etc. The more money you are willing to pay, the faster connection you get...

TRANSLATION: When we want the power of God in our lives, we call a man with Priesthood Authority. He comes and through the Authority of the Priesthood, gives us ordinances, which gives us "power in the priesthood". The more we choose to commit to God, the more ordinances we get, and therefore the MORE POWER WE HAVE ACCESS TO. Now, just like with the Internet, if we don't take the time to learn how to CONNECT to that power, it doesn't function like it should. The same goes with priesthood keys. 

My girls loved the FHE. As usual, we had them come up to the front and "teach" or review the concept after the initial lesson. And, since we have a record of the lesson, you can be sure I will be asking them about their "godliness ABCs" EVERY week! 

As for those of us Ephraimites (men and women!) who receive ordinances, and power in the priesthood,   do we passively endure to the end? Do we wait for a gospel doctrine lesson to show us the way or do we seek "further light and knowledge" ourselves? If we don't even know what "doors" the keys of the priesthood unlock, then certainly we cannot begin to understand mature spiritual things. 

So--How do we access the power of the priesthood in our lives and thus walk the path of Moses on Mt. Sinai?

That's the subject of another post. Stay tuned.....