Happy Valentine's Day, Abraham! Have some virtue! (a svithe)

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1. The sociologist suggested today that perhaps we call it the Abrahamic Covenant for similar reasons to why we call it the Melchizedek Priesthood. I find this a very striking possibility and I will leave you to ponder it.


2. From Ben Crowder:

D&C 121:45 says to “let virtue garnish your thoughts unceasingly.” You know, I looked at that verse and thought, “What in the heck does that even mean?” In today’s English, “garnish” means “to decorate (a dish) for the table.” As in parsley. Okay, I’m thinking, we’re supposed to let virtue decorate our thoughts, adorning them with beauty and loveliness.

But “unceasingly”? Unceasingly means not letting up — it means urgent, important. I don’t know about you, but decorating doesn’t seem to fit with urgency. It doesn’t make much sense.

So I went back to the OED and found that “garnish” originally came from the Old French garnir and meant “to fortify, defend (oneself), provide, prepare.” It’s also directly related to our English word “warn”/”warning.”

Okay, that makes a whole a lot more sense. We need to let virtue fortify our thoughts unceasingly, defending them with the strength that comes from godliness.

3. Happy Valentine's Day. Though not even Pope Gelasius I has the foggiest idea who he was.

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