Harry Potter and the Gospel

Yes, it is actually possible to tie in Harry Potter to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The prophet Alma said that: "But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them? Believest thou that these things are true? But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:41,44)

I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I love the books. Before my mission, that's basically all that I ever read. I listened to the books on tape before I went to sleep. I absolutely love it. I love the movies as well. The last Harry Potter movie I saw before I came out on my mission is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. There are a few things about this particular movie that I didn't like, such as the adding of the scene where Bellatrix and Fenrir Greyback attack the Burrow. That never happens in the book. There was one scene that's not in the book that I found particularly interesting. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the books or movies, I'll explain a little bit about what's going on before we hit the clip. Harry's mentor, Professor Dumbledore, had just been killed by one of his colleagues and friends, Professor Snape. As a tradition of the Death Eaters, who are Lord Voldemort's (the ultimate bad guy) henchmen, every time they killed, they send the Dark Mark(symbol of a skull and a snake) into the sky. It's kinda hard to see in this 2nd video clip so I'll post this one just so y'all will see what it looks like. It appears in about the middle of the clip.

Harry had just tried to catch Snape and get revenge but was defeated rather easily by the well learned professor. Harry had come back to the place where Professor Dumbledore's body had fallen and we'll let the video take it from there...

What I thought was interesting was the way they all raised their wands to erase the Dark Mark. It signified to me the power we have as we work together. We are all on the same team as children of God. We all have the same enemy. Imagine what we could do against the evils of this world if we united together as the students and teachers of Hogwarts did! I know that each of us have a ton of potential, for we have an Eternal Being as our spiritual Father. Let us unite together against the influences of the adversary as we continue on the path back to our Heavenly Home. 

P.S. I own nothing of these clips. All the credit goes to Warner Brothers.

Lord, I would follow Thee

Yesterday, I talked about following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. I also realized that it's been a while since I've done anything sports related. Back home, I was a huge fan of SportsCenter. I watched it all the time. One of my favorite parts of it was the Not Top Ten. Every day they would have a Top Ten, but on Friday's, they would take the best of the worst and arrange a NOT top ten for us. Here's one I found that I particularly enjoyed. This is an example of what NOT to do. :)

In all seriousness though, there's a hymn that I love that talks about following the example of the Savior.

Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,
Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee—

Lord, I would follow thee.

Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can’t see.
Who am I to judge another?

Lord, I would follow thee.

I would be my brother’s keeper;
I would learn the healer’s art.
To the wounded and the weary
I would show a gentle heart.
I would be my brother’s keeper—

Lord, I would follow thee.

Savior, may I love my brother
As I know thou lovest me,
Find in thee my strength, my beacon,
For thy servant I would be.
Savior, may I love my brother—

Lord, I would follow thee.

The prophet Nephi said: Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel...And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son of the living God, he cannot be saved." (2 Nephi 31:13,16)  I know that as we strive to follow Jesus Christ, He will help us get through the tough times of life. Everything He went through was for us and He asks us to follow him. If we do, we will be saved.



I'm trying to be like Jesus.

I’m trying to be like Jesus;
I’m following in his ways.
I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.
At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,
But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers,

Chorus
Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.

I’m trying to love my neighbor;
I’m learning to serve my friends.
I watch for the day of gladness when Jesus will come again.
I try to remember the lessons he taught.
Then the Holy Spirit enters into my thoughts, saying:

Chorus

I'm trying to be like Jesus. What a simple, yet powerful declaration! The best example that any of us could follow is that of our Savior Jesus Christ. Listen to the words and the music of the song that the LDS children learn, sing, and cherish at an early age. He loves us. He wants us so much to return to live with Him that He suffered and gave His life so that opportunity is available to us. His only request? "Come, Follow Me"

  

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Enjoy the video and music of one of my favorite hymns.

Te Lucis and the Life, Suffering/Death, and Resurrection of the Savior

I posted earlier on this blog about an experience that I was fortunate to have with my high school choir performing in Carnegie Hall in New York City (for those who haven't read it, click on this link http://eldersbsowards.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-of-my-most-powerful-testimony.html). Lately, things haven't quite been going the best. I've been battling an illness for about a week and things with missionary work haven't gone as I expected them to go. While I was pondering the events that were troubling me and trying to cheer myself up, I thought back to this experience. Once again, I was filled with gratitude for the opportunity to have this amazing experience. I also thought back to a particular song. The song "Te Lucis Ante Terminum" was our most difficult song of that year and probably the most difficult song I learned in my entire time at high school. It's really long, and it's A Capella, which means that there is no instruments accompanying us to help us stay in tune.

The song has 2 parts to it. The first part of the song, the music is happy and slow, drawn out, and really beautiful. Then the music changes and it changes drastically and without any warning. It goes from this calm scene to what we called the nightmare section. Then after this, it switches back to what it was before, slow, drawn out, and really beautiful. Now what does this song have to do with the gospel? To help me learn it and get the feel for how it should sound, I compared the beginning with the Savior's life. He was performing miracles, helping people, teaching the gospel and everything was happy with those who followed him. Then came the Atonement, when he suffered and bled from every pore, was whipped and mocked, hung on the cross, and died for us all. Then comes the glorious resurrection, and the victory over death and the grave. With the resurrection brings hope that we can all live with our Heavenly Father again. I think it's way sweet how it all connects!   

Most of the work that we did in class and in extra rehearsals either before or after school were on this song. It was a totally amazing experience. My best year of high school, no doubt about it. I have posted the song so you'll hear how our hard work paid off. I believe the recording is of the actual performance in Carnegie Hall. Enjoy.  

NBA Finals and Eternal Life

This time of year in the life of a basketball fanatic is all about the NBA Conference Finals getting to the NBA Finals. Two teams...seven games...One champion. To me, it doesn't get much better than this. One of my favorite of these recent NBA Finals is the 2008 Finals featuring the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston won the first two games fairly easily on their homecourt by scores of 98-88 and 108-102. Game 3 in Los Angeles was a different story as Kobe Bryant scored 30 points in a 87-81 Laker victory. Game 4 started out all Lakers as well as they led at one point by as much as 24...but the game didn't end up that way. 

Although most of us won't ever get to play in a NBA Finals game, we are all searching for the ultimate prize. What might that prize be? The Lord Himself tells us: "And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." (Doctrine and Covenants 14:7) We as the children of God are all on the same team. We are trying to win the ultimate prize of being with our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. The Devil is trying to stop us from attaining this prize. We can beat him if we do what the Savior said...by keeping His commandments and enduring to the end. When we do that, we will defeat the enemy of all righteousness and hear our Savior say: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." (Matthew 25:21) We can do it. We will do it, if we do what the Lord asks us to do.

For God so loved the world...

This video is entitled "The Bridge." It tells of a story of a man who is faced with one of the most difficult choices I can think of. Watching this video really made me think of my Heavenly Father and the pain he went through sacrificing His Son. I really felt the Spirit and I think you will too.