I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness

1. I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness Khinckley1@yahoo.com

2. Pilot: Something loose in cockpit. Mechanic: Something tightened in cockpit. P: Dead bugs on windshield. M: Live bugs on back-order. P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear. M: Evidence removed. P: DME volume unbelievably loud. M: DME volume set to more believable level. P: Suspected crack in windshield. M: Suspect you're right. P: Number 3 engine missing. M: Engine found on right wing after brief search. P: Aircraft handles funny. M: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious. P: Mouse in cockpit. M: Cat installed. Qantas “gripe sheet”

3. Forgiveness Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Our Sins Other’s Sins Why?

4. Elder Bruce Hafen It seems fair to ask why the victims of abuse should be required to do anything to deserve the Lord’s vast healing powers in such a case. …the irony that they should need to forgive those who have wronged them is almost overpowering. Still, there lurks between the lines of the scriptures on forgiveness a message of transcendent meaning- not only about abuse victims but about all of us, and about all of the Atonement. What are we doing when we are willing to absorb a terrible trauma of the spirit, caused not by our own doing but by one who claimed to love us- and we absorb the trauma even to help the sinner. That picture somehow has a familiar look- we’ve seen all this before. Of course, because this picture depicts the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; he took upon himself undeserved and unbearable burdens, heaped upon him by people who often said, and often believed that they loved him. So to forgive- not just abuse victims, but for each of us- is to be a Christ figure, a transitional point in the war between good and evil…

5. Life of Hosea Contemporary of Micah, Amos, and Isaiah Called to Northern Tribes One additional challenge The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: Why would the Lord command that? for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. (Hosea 1:2)

6. Elder Bruce R. McConkie In a spiritual sense, to emphasize how serious it is, the damning sin of idolatry is called adultery. When the Lord's people forsake him and worship false gods, their infidelity to Jehovah is described as whoredoms and adultery. (Jer. 3: 8-9; Hos. 1:2; 3:1.) By forsaking the Lord, his people are unfaithful to their covenant vows, vows made to him who symbolically is their Husband."

7. Question What kind of idols are we, in the modern church, tempted with?

8. President Kimball "Modern idols or false gods can take such forms as clothes, homes, businesses, machines, automobiles, pleasure boats, and numerous other material deflectors from the path to godhood. What difference does it make that the item concerned is not shaped like an idol? Brigham Young said: 'I would as soon see a man worshipping a little god made of brass or of wood as to see him worshipping his property'."

9. What happens when we choose idolatry? I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings" (Hosea 4:9). Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men" (Hosea 10:12-13).

10. Alma 29: 4,5 …for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire Whether it be unto: death Or unto life Whether they be unto: Or unto destruction salvation He that knoweth good and evil, to him It is given according to his desires whether he desireth or evil good or death life or remorse of conscience joy

11. Elder Eyring [The story of Hosea] was a love story. This was a story of a marriage covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. … The Lord, with whom I am blessed to have made covenants, loves me, and you, … with a steadfastness about which I continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate.

12. Psalm 107: 26-30 “They mount up to the heaven,” the psalmist sings, “they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like drunken man, and are at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.”

13. The good news: God is not a “loop hole” God! God looks for reasons, any reason, to bless us in spite of ourselves! The history of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem and Zarahemla, is testament to the great lengths the Lord will go to bless his people the minute return to Him. Through forgetfulness and folly, sin and slumber, He pours down answers and blessings as soon as it is possible to do so. He asks only that call on His name and begin the process.