Free Essay

• Throughout Most of U.S. History, in Most Locations, What Race Has Been in the Majority?

In:

Submitted By bigbrow68
Words 2230
Pages 9
Bind Up Their Wounds
By President Henry B. Eyring
First Counselor in the First Presidency

I pray that we may prepare ourselves to give whatever priesthood service the Lord may set before us on our mortal journey.
All of us are blessed with responsibility for others. To hold the priesthood of God is to be held responsible by God for the eternal lives of His children. That is real, that is wonderful, and at times that can feel overwhelming.
There are elders quorum presidents listening tonight who know what I mean. Here is what happened to one of you. It has likely happened to many of you—and more than once. The details may vary, but the situation is the same.
An elder you do not know well asked for your help. He had just found out that he had to move his wife and young baby boy today from the apartment where they have been living to another one nearby.
He and his wife had already asked a friend if they could borrow a truck for the day to move their household and personal belongings. The friend loaned them the truck. The young father began to load all they owned into the truck, but in the first few minutes, he hurt his back. The friend who loaned the truck was too busy to help. The young father felt desperate. He thought of you, his elders quorum president.
By the time he asked for help, it was early afternoon. It was the day of an evening Church meeting. You had already promised to help your wife with household projects that day. Your children had asked you to do something with them, but you hadn’t gotten to it yet.
You also knew that the members of your quorum, particularly the most faithful, the ones you usually called on to help, were likely to be in the same time bind that you were in.
The Lord knew you would have such days when He called you to this position, so He gave you a story to encourage you. It is a parable for overloaded priesthood holders. We sometimes call it the story of the good Samaritan. But it is really the story for a great priesthood bearer in these busy, difficult last days.
The story is a perfect fit for the overtaxed priesthood servant. Just remember that you are the Samaritan and not the priest or the Levite who passed by the wounded man.
You may not have thought of that story when you faced such challenges. But I pray you will when such days come again, as they surely will.
We are not told in the scriptures why the Samaritan was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It is not likely that he was taking a stroll alone since he must have known that robbers waited for the unwary. He was on a serious journey, and as was customary, he had with him a beast of burden as well as oil and wine.
In the Lord’s words the Samaritan, when he saw the wounded man, stopped because “he had compassion.”
More than only feeling compassion, he acted. Always remember the specifics of the account:
“And [he] went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
“And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.”1
You and the priesthood bearers you are called to lead can have at least three assurances. First, the Lord will give you, if you ask, the feelings of compassion He feels for those in need. Second, He will provide others, like the innkeeper, to join with you in your service. And third, the Lord, like the good Samaritan, will more than recompense all who join in giving help to those in need.
You quorum presidents likely have acted on those assurances more than once. You asked others of the Lord’s priesthood to help, with confidence that they would respond with compassion. You were not afraid to ask those who have responded most often in the past because you knew that they feel compassion easily. You asked them, knowing that in the past they have felt the Lord’s generosity when they chose to help. You asked some already heavily burdened, knowing that the greater the sacrifice, the greater the compensation they will receive from the Lord. Those who have helped in the past have felt the overflowing gratitude of the Savior.
You may well have been inspired not to ask someone to help load and then unload that truck. As a leader you know your quorum members and their families well. The Lord knows them perfectly.
He knows whose wife was near the breaking point because her husband was unable to find time to do what she needed done to care for her needs. He knows which children would be blessed by seeing their father go one more time to help others or if the children needed the feeling that they matter to their father enough for him to spend time with them that day. But He also knows who needs the invitation to serve but might not appear to be a likely or willing candidate.
You cannot know all your quorum members perfectly well, but God does. So, as you have done so many times, you prayed to know whom to ask to help serve others. The Lord knows who will be blessed by being asked to help and whose family will be blessed by not being asked. That is the revelation you can expect to come to you as you lead in the priesthood.
I saw that happen when I was a young man. I was the first assistant in a priests quorum. The bishop called me one day at my home. He said that he wanted me to go with him to visit a widow in great need. He said he needed me.
As I waited for him to pick me up at my home, I was troubled. I knew the bishop had strong and wise counselors. One was a famous judge. The other ran a large company and would later become a General Authority. The bishop himself would someday serve as a General Authority. Why was the bishop saying to an inexperienced priest, “I need your help”?
Well, I know better now what he might have said to me: “The Lord needs to bless you.” At the home of the widow, I saw him, to my amazement, tell the woman that she could get no help from the Church until she filled out the budget form he had left with her earlier. On the way home, as he saw how shocked I was, he chuckled at my surprise and said, “Hal, when she gets control of her spending, she will be able to help others.”
On another occasion my bishop took me with him to the home of alcoholic parents who sent two frightened little girls to meet us at the door. After he visited with the two little girls, we turned away and he said to me, “We can’t change the tragedy in their lives yet, but they can feel that the Lord loves them.”
On another evening he took me to the home of a man who hadn’t come to church in years. The bishop told him how much he loved him and how much the ward needed him. It didn’t seem to have much effect on the man. But that time, and every time the bishop took me with him, it had a great effect on me.
There is no way that I can find out whether the bishop prayed to know which priest would be blessed by going with him on those visits. He may well have taken other priests with him many times. But the Lord knew I would someday be a bishop inviting those whose faith had grown cold to come back to the warmth of the gospel. The Lord knew I would someday be charged with the priesthood responsibility for hundreds and even thousands of Heavenly Father’s children who were in desperate temporal need.
You young men cannot know what acts of priesthood service the Lord is preparing you to give. But the greater challenge for every priesthood holder is to give spiritual help. All of us have that charge. It comes with being a member of a quorum. It comes with being a member of a family. If the faith of anyone in your quorum or your family is attacked by Satan, you will feel compassion. Much like the service and mercy given by the Samaritan, you will also minister to them with healing balm for their wounds in their time of need.
In your service as a full-time missionary, you will go to thousands of people in great spiritual need. Many, until you teach them, will not even know that they have spiritual wounds that, left untreated, will bring endless misery. You will go on the Lord’s errand to rescue them. Only the Lord can bind up their spiritual wounds as they accept the ordinances that lead to eternal life.
As a quorum member, as a home teacher, and as a missionary, you cannot help people repair spiritual damage unless your own faith is vibrant. That means far more than reading the scriptures regularly and praying over them. The prayer in the moment and quick glances in the scriptures are not preparation enough. The reassurance of what you will need comes with this counsel from the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: “Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.”2
That promise can be claimed only if we “treasure up” the words of life and do it continually. The treasuring part of that scripture has meant for me a matter of feeling something about the words. For instance, when I have gone to try to help someone wavering in his or her faith about the Prophet Joseph Smith’s divine calling, feelings come back to me.
It is not only the words from the Book of Mormon. It is a feeling of assurance of truth that comes whenever I read even a few lines from the Book of Mormon. I cannot promise that it will come to every person infected with doubt about the Prophet Joseph or the Book of Mormon. But I know Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God because I have treasured it.
I know from experience that you can get the assurance of truth from the Spirit because it has come to me. You and I must have that assurance before the Lord puts us in the way of a traveler we love who has been wounded by the enemies of truth.
There is another preparation we must make. It is a human characteristic to become hardened to the pains of others. That is one of the reasons why the Savior went to such lengths to tell of His Atonement and of His taking upon Himself the pains and sorrows of all of our Heavenly Father’s children that He might know how to succor them.
Even the best of Heavenly Father’s mortal priesthood holders do not rise to that standard of compassion easily. Our human tendency is to be impatient with the person who cannot see the truth that is so plain to us. We must be careful that our impatience is not interpreted as condemnation or rejection.
As we prepare to give succor for the Lord as His priesthood servants, there is a scripture to guide us. It contains a gift we will need for our journey, wherever the Lord will send us. The good Samaritan had that gift. We will need it, and the Lord has told us how we can find it:
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
“But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.” Moroni 7:46–48.3
I pray that we may prepare ourselves to give whatever priesthood service the Lord may set before us on our mortal journey. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Racial Diversity

...(Instructor) Racial Diversity: Historical Worksheet * Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, what race has been in the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout most of U.S. history, the majority race in most locations has been white. Mainly on the east coast where all of the European settlers arrived. Throughout the western part of the country was mainly American Indian and Mexican races. However, they were more spread out over a larger territory as where the white races were more compacted. The majority of the white population in American history came from the western part of Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, etc.). * What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? Some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history has to be Black or African Americans, Mexican, Native American, and Chinese. Each racial minorities’ ancestral backgrounds are, Africa, Mexico, America, and China. In my understanding, African Americans became a significant or notable minority group in 1928 when last state to end slavery in United States (Mrlincolnandfreedom.org, 2013). Mexicans have gained their minority group between 1990 and 2000, nearly doubling in size. Native Americans has always been in minority group since they were the first to arrive or lived in...

Words: 583 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Eth125 Appendix E

...separation of categories of people. | |De jure segregation |Is the separation of individuals on the basis of race as required by law. | |Pluralism |This is a state in which people of all ethnic as well as racial categories have about the same | | |overall social standing. | |Assimilation |This is the process in which minorities gradually adopt cultural patterns for the dominant majority| | |of the population. | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout most of US history in vast locations, the white race has been known to be the majority. The common ancestral background of most members of this group is European. The White race has been the majority of the population throughout most of U.S. history. The reason for this is that many immigrants came from Europe and began forming the colonies in what is...

Words: 1022 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Eth 125 Appendix E

... |It is a real segregation or isolation of individuals from a main group which is imposed by law | |Pluralism |A conditions where different groups culturally, ethnically or religiously are present and are | | |tolerated in a certain society | |Assimilation |To adapt or conform ones self to a new and different environment | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout most of the history almost all locations the race, which has been the majority, is the “white race” which comprises both Hispanic Americans which has the highest proportion of the population in the Middle Western side of the country, which is 85% and the non- Hispanic that makes up 79 percent of our population. A “White” person usually refers to individuals who are light colored and or light pigmentation of the skin, however defining a very straightforward denotation of ethnicity...

Words: 550 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Ethnics

...Historical Worksheet Answer the following questions in 100 to 250 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, what race has been in the majority: ? Throughout most of U.S. history the white race has been the majority. It was the white race who was the first settlers This race is majority because of the social standards they have not just because of the population. The white race was the first settlers in the new land. As known, the most common ancestral background of most members of this group is European. Europeans came to this land for new life opportunities. They were able to come together and form their own country and boundaries because they broke ties off with their European rulers. http://www.termpaperwarehouse.com What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Some of the largest racial minorities are black, Hispanic, and Asian. The black population in America began at the same time as the white population, however “the frican people were brought involuntarily and in bondage” (Schaefer, 2012) The black population hails from Africa, however, there are many different cultures throughout the continent that contributed to slave trade and the immigration of blacks to America. Hispanics have been in the United Staes longer than it has been a country, having travelled north from the Aztec and Myan civilizations. Duing the time of exploration and conoliztion”the Spaniards...

Words: 382 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Minorities in United States

... |The forced race plays socially. | |Segregation |The detachment from others from a main body or group; to impose the separation of (a race or class)| | |from the rest of society. | |De jure segregation |Segregation that is imposed by law. | |Pluralism |Distinct ethnic, religious, or cultural groups are present and tolerated within society. | |Assimilation |People of different backgrounds come to see themselves as part of a larger national family. | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout most of United States history in most locations the race that has been the majority I think is the European race (whites). Both the American Hispanics which has the largest amount of the inhabitants in the Middle Western side of our nation around eight-five percent, and seven nine percent of our population is Non-Hispanic. The European’s often passed on to those that is of a very light skin pigmentation reinforcing and defining level of denotation of race and ethnicity....

Words: 381 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Appendix E

...groups maintains their cultural traditions | |Assimilation |Adapting or conforming to the group of people. | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout the most of the U.S. history in most locations American White race has been the majority with more than 300 million people living in the United States which includes non-Hispanic/Latino and Hispanic/Latino. American White race are also the majority in forty nine out of the fifty states with the exception being Hawaii. The most common ancestries are traced from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The United State is a very diverse country with both racially and ethnically groups. According to the United States Census Bureau White Americans with White American including non-Hispanic/Latino and Hispanic/Latino hold 72% of the population in the United States as of 2010. The White American is the majority in each region. This has been a very...

Words: 833 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Historical Worksheet

...Associate Program Material Racial Diversity: Historical Worksheet Answer the following questions in 100 to 250 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. • Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, what race has been in the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? I think that throughout most of United States history in most locations that White race has been the majority. I am sure that over the years Whites will not be the race that’s majority. Especially, with immigration rates increasing the numbers will change. There common ancestral backround is from Europe. The came from there to the United States years ago and have contributed to the country since then. Rtaher than being called Euro American, they are called Caucasian or White. Just because they originated in Europe doesn’t mean that they speak the language and they do not have remaining relationships with those whose still live in Europe. • What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? Some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history is African Americans and Mexicans. Their racial ancestral backround would be Africa for African Americans and Mexico for Mexicans. I would say that African Americans arrived here around 1776 and were forced to be slaves. But then in 1863 the Emancipation...

Words: 635 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Historical Race

...Worksheet Answer the following questions in 100 to 250 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. • Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, what race has been in the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout history whites were the majority race in most of the locations throughout U.S. History. The United States is very diverse with many different races but the whites have been the most dominante. Some American ancestors came from Europe, Africa, or Asia. The ancestors all depend on how long the family has lived in the United States, the longer they live the more diverse their ancestors will be. Many of the white race has ancestors that are of the European decent because the European immigrants have been in the United States for over 400 years. My ancestors are Native American and German. According to the text book Germans, Irish, English and Italians are some of the biggest ancestorial groups. • What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? Some of the larger minoritie groups in the United States history would be the African American race, Native American race, and Asian Americans. The ancestors of the African American race would have come from South America and the African continent. For Native Americans, their ancestors would have come...

Words: 660 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Discrimination in America

...looking at race as a socially constructed identity where the content and importance of | | |racial categories is determined by social, economical and political forces. | |Segregation |The physical and social separation of categories of people. | |De jure segregation |Segregation that is imposed and mandated by law. Children are assigned to schools specifically to | | |maintain racially separated schools. | |Pluralism |A state in which people of all racial and ethnic categories have the same overall social standing. | |Assimilation |The process by which minorities gradually adopt cultural patterns from the dominant majority | | |population. | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? The white race has always dominated as the majority in the United States. According to recent population ratios it still dominates today. White people classified as non-Hispanic with European descent make up 65.1% of the U.S population...

Words: 388 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Appendix E

...same overall social standing. Assimilation Is the process by which minorities gradually adopt cultural patterns from the dominant majority population. Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout most of U.S. the race that has been the majority is the “white” race. Caucasions are not the majority because of their number in population but because of their social standards in the United States. Most caucasion peoples ancesteral background is a European background however can also have a Native american indian background due to the fact that when the Europeans came to the "new land" in search of treasure and things like the fountain of youth they found this part of the world known as north america they settled, raged war on the natives and even impregnated them. As all this went on there were more and more caucasion people in the United states causing the majority population to become caucasion. However even though the we consider the majority of the population to be caucasion when we look at the numbers the people we classify as minorities are actually the majority. • What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or...

Words: 349 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Eth 125

...where different groups culturally, ethnically or religiously are | | |present and are tolerated in a given society. Assimilation To adapt or conform one’s self to a new different environment Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? I would have to say that throughout history in the U.S., the “white” race has been the majority. I believe that this is because of their ancestral background. I believe that the Europeans came her to America looking for a better opportunity of life, then came the other races; so I feel that the Europeans started off as the majority. I • What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? • In what ways have laws been used to enforce discrimination? Provide examples. These laws were intended against which racial minorities? • In what ways have laws been used to eliminate discrimination? Provide examples. Did the laws work to eliminate...

Words: 263 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Appendix E

...| |Pluralism |Pluralism is a state in which racial and ethnic, though distinct, have equal social standing. | |Assimilation |Assimilation is the process by which minorities gradually adopt cultural patterns of the dominant | | |majority population. | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? In U.S. history the majority of most races have been non-Hispanic European descent. Of this majority, the largest percentage claims ancestry traced back to Germany. The second and third largest groups reportedly are from Ireland and England. While most of these groups would be considered to be white in today’s world, a vast majority of these races were not considered to be white when they came to the United States due to their different accents and cultural behaviors. • What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each...

Words: 570 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Historical Race

...Answer the following questions in 100 to 250 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. • Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, what race has been in the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout most of U.S. history, in most locations, Caucasian (European descent) has been in the majority. The common ancestral background of most members of this group is European. The 2010 United States Census estimated that 72% of individuals who live in America are Caucasian American, aking up the largest share of the U.S. racial population (Jenkins, 2013). The vast majority of the more than three hundred millino people who currently live in the United States are decendants from European immigrants who arrived within the last four hundred years. The majority of Caucasian individuals living in the United States have ancestral lines originating from Germany, Poland, France, Italy, and Britain (Jenkins, 2013). • What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? Some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history include Black (African descent), Asian, and Hispanic and Latino individuals; these are often referred to as “minority majorities”. The common ancestral background of African Americans is of African descent. The common ancestral background...

Words: 705 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Ethics

...for one another’s cultures, allowing minorities to express their own culture without experiencing prejudice or hostility. | Assimilation | The process by which a subordinate individual or group takes on the characteristics of the dominant group. | Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: * Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? Throughout most of U.S. history White Americans has been the majority in most locations. According to the U.S. census Bureau in 2010 72% of Whites share the U.S. population. What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? The common ancestral backgrounds of most members of this group are people of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. * What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? Some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history are Black Americans compromising nearly 13% of the population and Hispanic/Latinos who compromises 15% of the population. What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? * In what ways have laws...

Words: 293 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

History

...categories. Segregation The physical and social separation of categories of people. De jure segregation By law segregation. Races have their own hotels, buses, and restaurants. Pluralism A state in which people of all racial and ethnic categories have about the same over all social standing. Assimilation The process by which minorities gradually adopt cultural patterns from the dominant majority population. Part II Answer the following questions in 150 to 350 words each: • Throughout most of U.S. history in most locations, what race has been the majority? What is the common ancestral background of most members of this group? Throughout most of U.S. history the white race has been the majority. This race is majority because of the social standards they have not just because of the population. The white race was the first settlers in the new land. As known, the most common ancestral background of most members of this group is European. Europeans came to this land for new life opportunities. They were able to come together and form their own country and boundaries because they broke ties off with their European rulers. • What are some of the larger racial minorities in U.S. history? What have been the common ancestral backgrounds of each of these groups? When did each become a significant or notable minority group? The white race, which is made up of both Hispanic Americans and the Non-Hispanic is the larger racial minorities. Hispanic Americans make...

Words: 598 - Pages: 3