Old and New

In class we spoke a lot about the parallel that exists between certain locations in correlation to the old exodus during Moses' time to today's restored gospel. I'm not going to lie, at the beginning I was confused about the whole analogy and I felt badly because to some like Dr. H it seemed like it could add to their testimony. However, now I understand that this is not based only on setting but on significance. In the early restoration of the church, people were trying to live the way of the old establishment of the church; this is known as primitivism. It is also interesting to note that the starting point (Eden) was in Missouri and the ending point or the second coming will be in Missouri. This reminds me of our purpose in life. We start in our state of innocence, but then we sin. This sin casts us out of our pure Eden into a troubled world where we seek to improve and redeem ourselves to return to our purity. This purity can only occur through repentance, literally meaning turning back to Him. The requires a journey, an exoudus of change. Our spirits are not the only to change, because we literally turn away from sin and remove ourselves from the settings of sin. I feel that restoration to UT is an interesting parallel with the journey of Moses and his people, but I feel like this journey is present in our daily lives also.