The Restoration

Haha, so last night I was working at Buckle, and realized it was 5 til 7, and my manager asked me if I had gone on my break yet, I told her no, so she said I had 45 minutes. Well I booked it to mission prep, which...I didn't realize was a little bit further of a drive than I had anticipated :) I walk into the class and it's just me and the teacher and a guy. I stayed for about 20 mintues and then I had to leave so that I could make it back to work. Lemme tell ya though, I learned SO MUCH in those 20 short minutes.
The topic yesterday for mission prep was "Which is the true church of Jesus Christ?" The teacher had us read Joseph Smith History, chapter 1 verses 17 and 18. Verses 18 and 19 in particular caught my attention, "My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which one to join...I was answered that I must join knone of them, for they were all wrong; and the Presonage who adressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." My teacher said that for some reason this scripture tends to upset people of other religions, they take offense to it, HA! I wonder why...? I always thought that that scripture was referring to the people- the preachers, and priest, etc, BUT my teacher asked me WHAT exactly was said that was an "abomination in his sight," was it the teachers he was referrering to? No. It's not. This scripture is not bashing the people, because in all honesty their hearts I believe are somewhat in the right place, it's their CREEDS that are an abomination to God. So what is a creed? Creed is a system or codification of a belief or opinion. The creed is referring to is the Nicene Creed that was created in 325, adopted of the belief of the Greeks that the body is evil, therefore God does not have a body is only spirit. That being the case, they don't believe that we are God's children, and that the Godhead is all one mass. And THIS is why God said that "their creeds are an abomination" because they have taken away the body of God, lumped together Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as all one spirit, and taken away our identity with the Father as His children.
It was all very very interesting in those 20 minutes of class, and I'm still trying to just soak it all in.
It's been nice being here in Kennewick, able to talk with people about the church. Ha, there is SO MUCH I don't know, and find hard to answer but I have found, that whenever I don't know the answer to their question (sadly more often than I hoped) if I just answer with my testimony and faith of the gospel, they seem content with that answer, they might not agree, but they seem satisfied. I just hope that people can see the love I have for my Savior in my countenance. I believe that each of us can be tools in the hands of Jesus Christ, as long as we have the courage and faith to testify what we know, however much or little that may be.