My first Sunday in Rexburg was spent {on accident} in the wrong ward. I thought I was in the right place for the right ward, but I was mistaken. Luckily for me, everyone in Rexburg is really friendly so I was taken in as though it had been my ward. So in this singles ward that was not mine, we read in Acts chapter 10 and discussed the story of Cornelius during Sunday School, which is the second hour of our 3 hour church. Verses 1 through 8 of Acts chapter 10 start the story off for us. Cornelius is described as a centurion, or soldier, for the Italian army. So Cornelius, this Roman soldier, is "a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." {verse 2}.
One night, Cornelius has a vision. In this vision, an angel of the Lord appears to him and says to him "Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter." As someone else in the class had pointed out, Simon Peter is one of Jesus Christ's disciples. This story takes place after Christ's Crucifixion, Resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Simon Peter is now the prophet of the Lord. So the angel didn't appear to Cornelius and tell him directly the answer to his prayer. The angel appeared and instructed Cornelius to go to a prophet of God to know what to do. Cornelius was a very obedient man, and in the morning he sent servants to Joppa to bring Simon Peter back to instruct him.
While the servants of Cornelius are journeying to Joppa, Peter is having his own vision.
"And he saw heaven opened and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth,
Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
But Peter said. Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." {verses 11-15}.
According to the Mosaic Law, Jews were not allowed to partake of unclean animals. Peter pondered over the vision he saw, wondering what it could mean. But it wasn't referring to the partaking of unclean animals that the Lord had suddenly deemed "clean." Another part of the Mosaic Law was that Jews could not interact with Gentiles for Gentiles did not believe their traditions and did not believe in their God. You may or may not have known this, but Cornelius was in fact a Gentile. When his servants came to Peter and asked him to visit their master, it finally dawns on him what God was trying to tell him in the vision. Heavenly Father was preparing a way for Cornelius and his family to accept the gospel into their lives. It was finally time to change the rules so that more families could be blessed by the knowledge of the gospel.
Another girl brought up a really good point towards the end of class. She wanted to know the difference between Gentiles learning the gospel or blacks receiving the priesthood back then and gay marriage or women receiving the priesthood today. Previously the prophet had been given revelation about changing the former two things, and she had heard people arguing that the prophet could pray to receive revelation for the latter two things. Then I received inspiration from above because the answer that came to mind did not come from me.
The family is central to Heavenly Father's plan. He created this Earth for man and gave us families and tools to protect our families so we could learn to be like Him and return home someday. So if it is something that will benefit the family, God will make it so. From the 1800's until 1978, blacks were not allowed to receive the priesthood. Not much of an explanation is given, although I wonder if it had something to do with the time period in which this took place. Anyways, the why is not important because God's ways are not our ways. What matters is that God saw that it was time to bless more of His children so worthy males of any ethnicity were now offered the priesthood. It is my opinion that the Lord will change things if it is for the benefit of the family. In Jerusalem, it was time to start teaching Gentiles and their families. In the 1970's it was time to bless families of African descent with priesthood holders in their homes.
It is also my opinion that gay marriage and women holding the priesthood is not good for families. These two items destroy families. Heavenly Father did not set up a man and a man or a woman and a woman to "multiply and replenish the earth." It is physically not possible for homosexual partners to reach their full potential because they are not with someone who can help them achieve that full potential. A man and a woman are needed for a family to receive the full care they are expected to receive. A man has the priesthood to provide spiritually. A woman has motherhood to provide physically, through nurturing. The father provides financially for his family while mother stays at home to care for the children. That is the way Heavenly Father set it up, and that is how it will survive.
