Fortify our Cities

Before Peter became the strong chief apostle that we revere today, he demonstrated much human weakness. Many of us suffer through the same mistakes and weaknesses that Peter made throughout his discipleship. Christ warned Peter that there would come a time when Peter would deny knowing Christ three times. In Matthew 26 v. 69, Peter was in Caiaphas' Palace when a woman asked if he knew Christ. At that point, Peter began fulfilling Christ's prophesy of ultimately denying Christ three times.
My professor shared an interesting insight of how there might be places where we might find ourselves weak in standing up for the truth. For Peter, this was Caiaphas' Palace. If we find ourselves in a place where we struggle standing up for righteousness, we need to avoid this place. One I heard these comments I was reminded of a General Conference talk given by Richard G. Scott in October of 2013 entitled "Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ".
When Ammon's Lamanite converts covenanted to never take up the sword again. This was not because it would always be evil to take up the sword but because of their past, it was necessary for them to take extra caution around the weakness of being a former blood thirsty people. This caused me to reflect on my personal weaknesses. I thought of ways I could personally "fortify" (Alma 53:6) my barriers around my weaknesses so I am less likely to fall in temptation.  I am thankful for the atonement of Jesus Christ, who can make my weakness a strength (Ether 12:27).

Better understanding the infinite Sacrifice

One of the beauties of the restored gospel how it sheds more light on our savior's infinite sacrifice. The term "atonement" came from William Tyndale during his translation of the bible. He made up to the word to mean the process of becoming "at one" with God. In our new testament class we discussed about a few scriptures that add further light on this subject. In Alma 7:11 Alma explains that as part of the atonement of Jesus Christ, our savior would "go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people."This scripture teaches us that all the trials Christ went through during this time was essential an essential part of the atonement. He had to truly be alone. He had to be rejected and persecuted as an essential part of the atonement process. V. 12 explains to us that he suffered all this so he could personally relate to any pain, suffering, discouragement and sorrow that we might go through. That is comforting to know when I am struggling that I can call upon him to comfort me.