Monday, July 15, 2013

Faith and Hope

I am giving a talk in one of the families wards on Sunday, and my topic is the relationship between faith and hope.  I was wondering if y'all had any talks, scripture studies or other ideas or sources that you could share on the topic.  Thanks!

3 comments:

  1. I remember studying this in detail when I was in the mission field. I'll have to dig through my study journals to find what I came up with, because I don't remember.

    But I know that "Preach My Gospel" is a great resource--specifically the chapter on Developing Christlike Attributes. Faith and hope are the first two attributes discussed in the chapter.

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  2. This topic of faith and hope made me think of Elder Bednar's CES devotional, "That We Might Not Shrink."

    https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng

    I remember his story about the young couple suffering from cancer and I was greatly impressed by the lesson that faith is knowing that God could heal him, not that he would heal him. It's interesting how much one letter can make such a huge difference and bring about such an insight for me. He says, “Having faith is not necessarily knowing that God would heal me, but that He could heal me. I had to believe that He could, and then whether it happened was up to Him. As I allowed those two ideas to coexist in my life, focused faith in Jesus Christ and complete submission to His will, I found greater comfort and peace.”

    Faith is believing and trusting in the Lord. Hope is trusting in the Lord to fulfill his promises and thus submitting to his will. The Lord promises to bless us and sometimes we must go through trials in fiath to receive those blessings. Like Moroni said, "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of dfaith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." That is possibly one of my favorite scriptures!

    I also searched faith and hope on the church website and found this great talk, "By Faith and Hope, All Things are Fulfilled." I liked his message on optimism and he had some pretty good stories.

    http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/04/by-faith-and-hope-all-things-are-fulfilled?lang=eng

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  3. I loved that talk Nor!

    I have tried to separately define those two attributes myself and I feel they are similar and different. Its something I need to study more. I did however just read the attribute activity at the end of chapter 6 in PMG. I feel like the phrases that describe faith are action related, while the descriptions of hope are more attitude oriented.

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