March forth..or fourth..haha

3.4.2008…In Frère Euvrard’s class we talked about the Church’s growth in France. In the area, they’re advising members to use all church facilities to maximum capacity because at the cost of 1 church in Europe, 47 can be built in Africa. Staggering. He also mentioned that though we consider the LDS church ‘international,’ we really won’t have achieved that until the natives are presiding internationally, not Americans leading the congregations. Once membership strength and activity increases enough to have the locals govern themselves, then we’ll really have achieved something.
I discussed Brother Welch’s opinion on the war chapters since I’ve always had a hard time understanding their importance. He said that for one thing, I must remember how important war was in the ancient world. It was literally a matter of life and death for whole civilizations. Also to consider that in the ancient world, "war" was seen as a manifestation of God's will: when you won, it was God who gave you the victory. When you lost, it was because God was unhappy with you. With those keys, the war chapters become much more revealing as manifestations of God's will. From a modern ethical point of view, the best and the worst of human character comes out under the stress of war, so the war chapters can also be seen as clear lenses through which to view humanity and human nature. Quite enlightening I thought…A demain…