That We May Be Encouraged, January 1

For all those words which were written long ago are meant to teach us today; that when we read in the scriptures of the endurance of men and of all the help that God gave them in those days, we may be encouraged to go on hoping in our own time. Romans 15:4, Phillips. CC 7.1 The lives recorded in the Bible are authentic histories of actual individuals. From Adam down through successive generations to the times of the apostles we have a plain, unvarnished account of what actually occurred and the genuine experience of real characters. It is a subject of wonder to many that inspired history should narrate in the lives of good men facts that tarnish their moral characters.... The inspired writers did not testify to falsehoods to prevent the pages of sacred history being clouded by the record of human frailties and faults.... CC 7.2 It is one of the best ...