Marriage Classes part 2

Last Sunday's marriage class was the one I took lots of notes of. It was FULL of stuff I either didn't know, or hadn't though of in a long time.

Didn't know: "All priesthood is Melchizedek, but there are different portions or degrees of it." (Joseph Smith).  Elder Brinley discussed 3 of these and the offices within each one.

Aaronic: Deacon, Teacher, Priest and Bishop

Melchizedek: Elder, High Priest, Patriarch, Seventy, Apostle

Patriarchal: Husband/Wife, Father/Mother, King/Queen, Priest/Priestess - this is the highest order attainable, and that's why we don't address our prayers to our Heavenly Patriarch or High Priest, but our Heavenly Father.

So we are practicing living the highest order in our homes and one way of exercising our dominion is taking care of our family unit for example, having kingdom meetings at Family Home Evening.

He reminded us that when we enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage we enter into the patriarchal order and become inheritors of all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc and if worthy we can "reap the full blessing of heirship in eternity where the patriarchal order will be the order of government and rule" (Mormon Doctrine, 559).

We should teach these children of Heavenly Parents we've been given how having a Temple marriage blesses a marriage and family. The best way to do this is by example. He pointed out that if parents argue and fight a lot or it's generally an unhappy home, kids won't see the point of making the effort to go to the Temple to be married.

One statistic he gave = men spend less than 7.25 minutes/week one-on-one with their children (isn't that so sad? A week!! I'm so glad to report Kamuela exceeds that by at least 10 times).

One extremely important duty of a priesthood holder is to protect and preserve the chastity of women so they can bring life into the world.

It took 1 angel to restore the gospel (Moroni) but 7 to restore the keys of the Priesthood:

John the Baptist - Aaronic Priesthood

Peter, James, John - Melchizedek 

Moses - gathering of Israel

Elias - dispensation of the gospel of Abraham

Elijah - Sealing

Didn't know: 2 things; first, that there were seven holy messengers who came to restore the Priesthood. Second, I never really fully understood what it was that Elias restored.  Elder Brinley explained it clearly, that it was "the commission, the endowment and power, the message of salvation, given to Abraham. [Which means] the gospel of Abraham was Celestial Marriage, or a commission to provide a lineage for the elect portion of the pre-existent spirits, a gospel to provide a household in eternity for those who live the fulness of the celestial law....as a consequence [of the restoration], the righteous among all future generations were assured of the blessings of a continuation of the seeds forever, even as it was with Abraham of old" (McConkie, 220).

Whenever we recommit, so does Satan!

A dispensation requires the gospel and the priesthood to be on the earth.

He said we should memorize our spouse's Patriarchal Blessing. I really liked this one because it would help to remember how Heavenly Father sees our spouse and the blessings and hopes He has in store for him, strengthening our resolve to help our spouse reach their full potential.

Also, I've though a lot about the disasters happening lately, and how a lot of times (not always) church members' lives are spared. Elder Brinley quoted Brigham Young in saying that if 60 - 75% of church members will live the gospel, the Lord's judgements will not come upon them. That was really thought-provoking. (some of said thoughts - move to a righteous ward! (jk), try to encourage others back to church, ensure my family are included in the 60 - 75%).

And as a sidenote he observed that every ward has 3 degrees of glory and which one are we?

Phew so that was a lot, sorry if it seems unorganized, I think I wrote everything in the order he presented it but it's just notes so doesn't really flow well. We're going to miss next week because of Utah but my friend said she'll take notes and email them to me.