REL A 250 Questions

What is the meaning of the Savior’s repeated invitation to “Come Unto Him”?

• Learn of Him, Rely on Him, Become like Him

What is the meaning of the word gospel?

• Good news

What is the primary message delivered by the angels of God?

• The good news is that Christ has atoned for you and that through his gospel, you can be saved

What is the gospel of Jesus Christ?

• Christ came into the world to give His life so that we can be saved as we come unto Him through faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end

What is the meaning of the name Jesus Christ?

• Annointed Savior of the World

What does it mean to have faith “on the name” of Jesus Christ?

• It is faith in everything He has done for us - His Atonement, His authority, His doctrine, etc.

When do we take upon us the name of Christ?

• When we partake of the sacrament, showing that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ

• We actually take upon us the name of Christ is when we are clothed in holy garments during our Endowment

What is the scripture injunction given to the living Apostles upon the earth?

• They are special witnesses of the name of Jesus Christ

Have the Apostles seen the Savior?

• Some past presidents have seen Him, but if present Apostles have seen Him, we don’t know for sure. They have a strong witness of the Savior and that He lives

What is Kolob and what does it symbolize?

• Kolob is the start nearest to God

• The stars in heaven represent people, so Kolob represents Jesus Christ

Ultimately, how do we draw closer to God and Christ?

• We make and keep sacred covenants with God

What was decided upon in the Grand Council in Heaven before the foundation of the world?

• That Jesus Christ would be the Only Begotten and our Savior

What were the major differences between Jehovah and Lucifer?

• Lucifer/Satan desired glory and power for himself

• Jehovah/Jesus desired glory and power for God

What constituted Lucifer’s rebellion?

• He wanted to destroy agency

• He wanted to take God’s power and glory for himself

How did we overcome Satan in pre-mortality?

• Our testimony

• Jesus Christ’s atonement

• Our love for Jesus Christ and His children

What are two primary purposes in the design of creation?

• To bear record of Christ

• To please the eye and gladden the heart — be of use to man

What is the ultimate and overarching purpose of all of God’s creations?

• To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man — God did this all for us

What is the Church’s official position on the theory of organic evolution?

• The Church has no official position on the theory of evolution

What do we know from revelation about the origin of Adam and Eve?

• Man and woman are created in the Lord’s image

• Adam and Eve were the first people on the Earth

• Men and women are the direct and lineal offspring of deity

Why has the Lord not revealed more in relation to the theory of evolution?

• We do not know how evolution occured and it’s for science to understand. It does not affect the salvation of souls

What is the covenant path?

• The covenants we make with God through saving ordinances, which lead us to Eternal Life and God through:

  1. Baptism

  2. Confirmation

  3. Priesthood Ordination

  4. Temple Endowment

  5. Temple Sealing

What is a covenant with God?

• A sacred relationship of promises with God

What is the meaning of the Hebrew word hesed?

• Lovingkindness - kindness or mercy which is based on, or arises from, love

What is the Abrahamic Covenant?

• A series of promises God gave to Abraham:

  • Innumerable posterity

  • A promised land

  • Priesthood authority

  • The families of the earth would be blessed through him

  • The covenant would also apply to his posterity

How do we know that we are the posterity of Abraham?

• Our patriarchal blessing

When do we enter into the Abrahaic Covenant?

• When we are sealed in the temple in a temple marriage/sealing

Why does the Lord teach with symbols?

• To increase our understanding

• To make them memorable

• To focus our attention on the truths He wants us to understand

What is the overall preparatory purpose of the tabernacle and the modern temple?

• It prepares us to meet God and enter into the Celestial Kingdom

What does the veil of the temple symbolize?

• It represents the flesh of Christ

How does the veil of the temple relate to the temple garment?

• The symbols of the veil of the temple veil are “mirrored” in our temple garments

• We symbolically pass through the veil when we put on our temple garments

What is the law of justice?

• A broken law deserves punishment

• You get what you deserve

What is the law of mercy?

• God’s love demands forgiveness

• Receiving more than what someone deserves

Why does the plan of God require that there be laws and associated punishments?

• It defines right and wrong and provides a test of mortality

How does the Atonement of Christ satisfy both the law of justice and the law of mercy?

• Jesus Christ takes upon Himself the punishment

In what other way is God simultaneously just and merciful?

• His laws lead to blessings

What did the Jews believe about the coming Messiah?

• They thought:

  • He would be a mortal descendant of King David

  • He would rule the land of Israel

  • He would gather the Jews

  • He would restore the law of Moses

  • He would bring peace to the whole world

What did Isaiah (and the Savior Himself) testify was one of the Messiah’s primary missions?

• To heal

Why does Isaiah describe Christ by saying that he had “no beauty”?

• He appeared like a mortal man - there was nothing about Him that caused people to single Him out as the Son of God

When suffering for our sins, how was Christ intimately connected to us?

• While suffering for us, Christ saw each of us

What did Christ suffer for us?

• Everything

What was the purpose of His suffering for our pains and sorrows in addition to our sins?

• So He would know how to help us and have mercy for us

What does the genealogy of Jesus teach us about Him?

• Numerical symbolism testifies of Christ’s divinity

• Son of David (heir of Israel, an earthly throne) and Son of Abraham (heir of the covenant, a heavenly throne)

What earthly title was rightly His?

• King of the Jews

What does it mean that Jesus is the “Only Begotten” Son of God?

• “The Son of God, after the manner of the flesh”

• Christ’s physical blood and body father

Why was Jesus Christ the only being capable of realizing the atoning sacrifice and resurrection?

• He was born from a mortal mother (able to die) and born from an immortal father (able to overcome death and resurrect)

What is the meaning of “the condescension" of God”?

• Jesus Christ came down and became a mortal to sacrifice Himself and atone for us

• Voluntary descent from one’s rank or dignity in relations with an inferior

What did Jesus teach about His own character through His self-introduction to the Nephites?

• Jesus atoned for us because He loves Heavenly Father and wants to obey Him

How did the Savior, even from the age of a young boy, balance self-confidence and submission?

• He knew who He was!

What was the Savior’s repeated statement about what His mission was upon the earth?

• To do His father’s will

What is President Nelson’s promise to those who are willing to “let God prevail” in their lives?

• We will experience for ourselves that God is a God of miracles

What are two reasons we need a church organized by the Savior?

• To provide the needed divine authority for salvation

• Need for a community of saints

What are the keys of the priesthood?

• The authority to direct the exercise of the priesthood

What is the sealing power and who holds it?

• Power to bind in Earth and in heaven

• The prophet holds these keys

What is one of the major purposes of the gifts of the spirit?

• To come together to do the Lord’s work together

What responsibility toward other members of the church do we accept at baptism?

• To serve, minister, and help others along the covenant path

What is truth?

• Knowledge of things as really they are, as they really were, and as they really are to come

What is the ultimate source of truth?

• Jesus Christ

How do we receive truth?

• By keeping the commandments

What is “moral relativism”?

• Truth is dependent upon the person or circumstances

What is at the center of all truth?

• Jesus Christ

What did Jesus do with His time?

• Jesus ministered

What principles of ministering can we learn from the Savior?

• The Savior did not look for excuses - He found a way

• The Savior did so in ways we would never think of

• The Savior was patient

• The Savior gave an example

• The Savior was humble

• The Savior ministered individually

• The Savior ministered to the marginalized

What two things are required for a miracle?

• Faith in Jesus Christ

• We need to seek Him out

What two lessons was Jesus teaching by His healing miracles?

• Miracles testify that Jesus Christ has power to forgive all sin

• Miracles testify that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed Savior of the world

What are the greatest miracles?

• The healing of sick souls

What two types of faith in Christ are critical as we seek miracles in our own life?

• Faith to be healed

• Faith to accept the Lord’s will

What is the greatest miracle in human history?

• The atonement of Jesus Christ

What specifically is the Savior asking that we remember about His body and His blood?

• His mortal body given for us (sacrifice) and His resurrected body

How are we blessed when we always have His Spirit to be with us?

• We are constantly cleansed from sin

What is the meaning of the name Gesthsemane?

• The oil-press

What was required for Jesus’ sacrifce for sin to be accomplished and why?

• Jesus had to die and we don’t have the complete and clear answer as to why

What was the scourging endured by Jesus before the crucifixion?

• He was lashed/whipped 39 times

What was the final suffering experienced by the Savior on the cross?

• God’s presence was withdrawn, so Jesus Christ was left entirely alone

What were Jesus’ final words on the cross?

• “Thy will is done.”

How did Jesus die?

• He willingly laid down His life and voluntarily died

Why does the Church not embrace for our Christianity the traditional symbol of the cross?

• We embrace the symbolism of the New Testament Church, which did not include the cross as a symbol

• Our symbolism emphasizes the complete miracle of Christ’s mission - His suffering and His resurrection

• The lives of our people must be the symbol of our faith

Who were the first two mortals to whom the resurrected Savior appeared?

• Mary Magdalene

• Peter

How many contemporaneous eye-witnesses of the resurrected Savior were there in Israel?

• More than 500

When does the resurrection occur?

• At the Millenium in three different stages: Jesus will be resurrected, then the just, then the unjust

What are resurrected bodies like?

• Immediately after resurrection, they are as they were burried and then quickly age or de-age to their prime and youthful state

Along with redeeming us from sin and death, what is another significant purpose of the Atonement of Christ?

• Provides help for us to do and become good

What is the grace of Jesus Christ?

• The power to become holy

What does the Bible Dictionary call this aspect of Christ’s grace?

• Enabling power

What gives us increased access to the power of Jesus Christ?

• Covenants

What were the circumstances in the life of President Joseph F. Smith when he received D&C 138?

• He received the revelation in an environment of severe personal loss, severe anxiety and depression, and during the global Spanish Flu pandemic and World War I

What did the Savior do while in the Spirit World?

• Preached the gospel to the righteous and organized messengers

What role do you and I play in this work?

• Vicarious (temple) work for the dead

• We were foreordained and prepared/taught in premortal life

What two verses of scripture are quoted in every one of the standard works of the Church?

• Malachi 4:5-6

What does Malachi mean that the wicked will be left with “neither root nor branch”?

• The wicked will be without ancestors (roots) or posterity (branches) since they weren’t sealed to their families

Why would the earth have been “utterly wasted” if Elijah did not come?

• The Savior will save all of his children that are sealed into one family, and so we need to be sealed and interconnected all the way back to create one singular family of God

• The saving ordinances are not just for the dead but for us to be sealed in one great family!

What are the three identifying characteristics of a “good” shepherd given by the Savior?

• His sheep know Him

• He gave His life for the sheep

• He loves and knows His sheep

What is His motivation to be the Good Shepherd?

• Love

What type of love does the Savior ask us to feel for Him?

• Charity, the love of God

How does the Savior desire that we “feed” His sheep?

• To care for and watch after, or shepherd, those around us

When Heavenly Father introduces His Only Begotten Son, what is the consistent invitation?

• Hear Him!

What three sources of revelation are taught by both the example of Joseph Smith and the testimony of President Nelson?

• Scriptures

• Temple

• Holy Ghost

What additional key source of revelation do we have that young Joseph Smith lacked?

• Prophets

Will personal revelation ever contradict prophetic revelation?

• No, never

For whom should we expect to receive revelation?

• Ourselves

• People we have stewardship/responsibility over

What event did President Nelson call “a hinge point in the history of the Church”?

• The dedication of the Rome, Italy Temple