Please read Doctrine & Covenants section 46 and look at 1 Corinthians 12-13 (I think 11 and 14* also have some significant insight into what gifts might be most desired), and Moroni 10. All of these lists are suggestive, we need not think them exhaustive. What other gifts of the Spirit might you add to the list? Everyone is promised at least one gift at a minimum. What gift or gifts do you have? Patriarchal blessings likewise help us think about the gifts we have.
We will definitely discuss Elder Holland's most recent conference talk--particularly regarding knowing and believing (D&C 46:13-14). If you haven't heard it--really, even if you have--listen to it here. Thanks to my sister, I'm adding Elder Marvin J. Ashton's "There Are Many Gifts" here. It is fantastic. I also like then Elder Eyring's CES Fireside "Gifts of the Spirit for Hard Times" here. Or President Faust's BYU Devotional on Patriarchal blessings here.
Look at context of section 46 in an article by Matthew McBride - "Religious Enthusiasm Among Early Ohio Converts" here. The understanding and definitions of gifts of the Spirit is not static. Things change over time. Eighteen year old recent convert, Lucy Thompson Lisk, writes of manifestations of the Spirit that she experienced around the time of her baptism here. Jonathan Stapley writes about some more charismatic examples of gifts of the Spirit in the 1830s and 1840s here.
*A note on Paul's writings on gifts of the spirit and gender. Many are confused by 14:34 - "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak"....verse 35 continues "It is a shame for women to speak in the church." This clearly does not align with chapter 11 which talks about women praying and prophesying in church only limiting them by saying that women should cover their heads as they pray and prophesy. None of the gifts of the Spirit are limited by gender. Paul also positively mentions several female teachers in Romans 16 and Chloe and the beginning of 1 Corinthians. This limitation for women in church at the end of chapter 14 seems problematic. Textually it is a later insertion. Most New Testament scholars today believe this is because it does not fit and Paul probably didn't write it. So I say ignore it.
No comments:
Post a Comment