What is Family Home Evening

Leaders of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints have instructed members to set aside Monday night as "family home evening." This is a time for families to study the gospel together and to do other activities that strengthen the family spiritually, create family memories, and increase unity and love. To learn more visit this website.

Why Family Home Evening

"I wonder if having unplanned and infrequent family home evenings will be enough to fortify ourselves and our children with sufficient moral strength to meet the complexities of our day. Infrequent family scripture study may be inadequate to arm ourselves and our children with the virtue necessary to withstand the moral decay of the environment in which we live. Where in the world will we learn chastity, integrity, honesty, and basic human decency if not at home? These values will, of course, be reinforced at church, but teaching them in family home evening can be particularly consistent and effective. To combat the world's evil influences, we need the strength that comes from family home evening."

James E. Faust, “Enriching Our Lives through Family Home Evening,” Ensign, Jun 2003, 2–6

Sunday, August 31, 2008

8 Ways God Can Speak To You

This past week our Family Home Evening was about how we hear the whispering of the Holy Ghost. We based our lesson from the talk Eight Ways God Can Speak To You by By Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Then we discussed how other prophets had described the voice of the Lord, outlined below.

This FHE turned out to be a stepping stone for our next intended lesson about Patriarchal Blessings and the 12 tribes of Israel.

How Do Prophets, Seers, and Revelators Describe the Voice of the Lord?
“It” refers to the voice of the Lord.

Joseph Fielding Smith:
It can be as deep and meaningful as anything tangible.
It is penetrating.

Spencer W. Kimball:
It comes as deep, unassailable impressions that settle on the mind as dew from heaven.
They are deep feelings.
It is an impressive consciousness of direction from above.

Dallin H. Oaks:
It can take the form of enlightenment of the mind.
It can come as positive or negative feelings about how to act.
It can uplift our emotions.

Harold B. Lee:
It is not audible to our physical hearing.

Joseph B. Wirthlin:
It enters quietly into our mind and heart.
It is so simple and precise we assume it is our own idea or a passing thought.
As we reconcile these whisperings to what we know to be true, we learn to recognize them.

Joseph Smith:
It yields the fruits of the kingdom.
If our hearts are open it brings conviction.
It whispers consolation to the soul.

Boyd K. Packer:
It caresses gently.
It is a sweet, quiet voice of inspiration.
It comes more as a feeling than as a sound.
Pure intelligence can be spoken into the mind.

(I think this came from excerpts from Hearing the Voice of the Lord, a book on personal revelation that was written by Elder Gerald N. Lund. I'm not sure because I had written them down, not sure where I originally found the information, and don't even own the book.)

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