New Year's Resolution

So with the New Year coming I've only given a little thought to goals I want to accomplish. I have some that are already underway and not necessarily 2010 goals but I always like to make goals for each year. I'm unsure as to how many I'll have and how many I'll make public but I will share one of the ones that I am committed to. I was reading a good friend's blog and they mentioned reading the Old Testament as a goal. This year in Sunday School we will be studying the Old Testament and I feel that is a worthy goal to accomplish. I'll confess, the Old Testament is one of my favorite books of scripture. I feel almost sacrilegious saying that. I mean I love the Book of Mormon and it's very simple and easy to understand for the most part and we believe it to be true and more correct than any other book (partly due to the fact that there hasn't been much loss due to excessive translations). I also love reading about Church History and therefore like the Doctrine and Covenants and the commandments directed towards us. And then there's the Pearl of Great Price which has so much contained in such a marvelously small book. And I feel like I can't discredit the New Testament- it's about the Savior's ministry and the work of the Apostles after him and I love the book of Revelations and trying to study out signs of the Second Coming. But even with all of that I still have a special place for the Old Testament.

I've only read it through twice before and the first time was mainly to say I did it. But the second time reading it I found SO MUCH interesting stuff in it. I remember sharing with my companions things that I was reading from it every day and I had one companion tell me (after I had related what I had read from it that morning)- "You ALMOST make me want to read the Old Testament". There's a lot of good stories, a lot of symbolism, a lot of wisdom, a lot of messed up stories, and a lot of ways we can relate. I kinda relate it to the classics. I like Twilight and Harry Potter and the exciting page-turners of our day- but there's something about the classics that holds true throughout all time. (Random note though: I'm not always fond of the classic books or movies- it depends on which one and why it became a classic. I've read some amazing ones and some that I thought were awful) I love reading about the tribes of Israel though, their trials, the miracles, forgiveness and long-proven patterns that the Lord follows.

I don't know what I will focus on when I go through the Old Testament this time through- I haven't yet decided, but I want to make a dilligent study of the Old Testament this year. A wise man I once met (who joined my church) had been studying the Bible. Due to various causes there are a few discrepancies in the Bible, whether it's due to translation or another cause is up to you to decide, but he pointed out that in the New Testament it teaches the law of witnesses- in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. As missionaries of my church we teach that principle often to introduce the Book of Mormon as a second witness to the Bible, not to replace the Bible but to affirm it. But this wise man had a theory that every important principle that needed to be known is witnessed of at least twice in the Bible- I think I'm going to look for witnesses of principles I believe to be true as I read through the Old Testament this time through. I want to prove him right if possible, but it seems to make sense to me. That if there's a discrepancy there's only one account of the false information and (if it's an important principle) there are two to disprove it (surviving any translations or any other attempts to destroy the validity of the Bible).

I guess in closing I will share a little more about my last experience reading through the Old Testament. I read through it for various reasons- one of which was to understand it better and know it better. But I also started reading through the whole Bible searching for every woman mentioned. There were a lot more mentioned than I originally thought- some righteous examples and some wicked examples. I'm not trying to be feminist but I realized something about the influence women hold. If the woman was righteous, so were the people that she influenced. If she was wicked then so were those she influenced. That to me, means a lot. I sometimes feel special and privileged to know that I make a difference to those around me. I'm not saying guys can't be righteous in the midst of wicked women- I've seen many stand strong amidst circumstances like those, but I also have seen the influence work. The world with a lot of the media would portray that we only have a physical influence to tempt and seduce, but I know that is not our only influence. To show an example, read the story of Esther carefully. In my personal, blunt opinion, Esther was up against a whole bunch of sluts. Other women and girls that according to the world today would win the heart of the king. But Esther went in, just her- and she won the heart of the King and was able to use that influence to save her people. I've seen this more subtle influence work in today's world as well. Our job as righteous women is to be virtuous (different from being chaste, though I feel it's related) and to use our influence for good.

Proverbs 31:10, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."