Thursday, January 21, 2010

"His Hands"

I love this video.  "His Hands" is one of my all time favorite songs.  It serves as a good reminder of what our Savior Jesus Christ did and suffered for each of us.  He suffered because of His love for each of us.  I KNOW that He loves me.  I KNOW that He loves you. 




"His Hand" lyrics (by Kenneth Cope)

his hands
tools of creation
stronger than nations
power without end
and yet through them we find our truest friend

his hands
sermons of kindness
healing men's blindness
halting years of pain
children waiting to be held again

his hands would serve his whole life though
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i'll not rest until i make up my hands what they could be
'til these hands become like those from galilee

his hands
lifting a leper
warming a beggar
calling back the dead
breaking bread, five thousand fed

his hands
hushing contention
pointing to heaven
ever free of sin
then bidding man to follow him

his hands would serve his whole life though
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i'll not rest until i make up my hands what they could be
'til these hands become like those from galilee

his hands
clasped in agony
as he he lay pleading, bleeding in the garden
while just moments away
other hands betray him
out of greed, shameful greed
and then his hands
are trembling
straining to carry the beam that they've been led to
as he stumbles through the streets
heading towards the hill on which he died
he would die
they take his hands, his mighty hands, those gentle hands
and then they pierce them, they pierce them
he lets them, because of love
from birth to death was selflessness
and clearly now i see him with his hands
calling to me
and though i'm not yet as i would be
he has shown me how i could be
i will make my hands like those from galilee

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Baptism at 8

In December, my niece was Baptized and Confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 



In our church we are baptized at 8 years old rather than as infants. Some people ask why we don’t baptize our infants. Our beliefs are a little bit different than most churches. The Book of Mormon teaches us that children are born perfect and without sin. We believe that we are responsible for only our own sins and not for Adam’s transgression.

So why 8 years old? We believe that this is the “age of accountability”. The age where children are old enough to understand what is right and what is wrong and old enough to make the baptismal covenants with God. Before this age, they are not held accountable for the things that they do. Babies and young children are in the process of learning right from wrong and are not capable of committing sin.

So what do we believe happens to babies/children who die before they are baptized? God is not a partial God. He is a just and a fair God and because of His mercies and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, ALL children who die before the age of accountability (8) are guaranteed Exaltation. I know of many parents who have lost children before baptism. What a blessing it is for them to have the peace of knowing that these children will be denied nothing.