Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

26:15-16 - I'm not really strong in the prophesies, so I'm going to go with what I understand because I started trying to get into the other verses and I really just go into scripture recitation. The IM discusses verses 15 and 16 as "their speech shall whisper out of the dust." This is a very metaphorical statement. Clearly, no one is literally laying in the dirt talking, but it's implied that those who have died lay low in the earth, and that their words speak to those who are alive. It also talks about "and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit." This is a very bizarre saying in our day here, and honestly I thought that it meant witchcraft, but the IM defines it as "the spirit of a dead person" and explains that even though it's odd sounding today "in the past it commonly conveyed the sense that departed ones can have influence beyond the grave into this life." It even points out that these whisperings were bro...

My feelings and attitude has been quite different since my experience yesterday while pondering the phrase “we rejoice in Christ.” I see that God is not this crazy, vindictive, dictatorial person that I always expected him to be, but he is actually quite pleasant. I’ve seen that he not only loves me in a gentle manner, but he loves everyone else just as much. Our blessings are different, our opportunities are different, but his heart aches for those who act badly because of their unhappiness, just as his heart broke when I did the same thing. It’s been a fast and furious change, I’ve been reflecting, about the last several months about how I’m a completely different person, so much happier now. I’ve never experienced this much spiritual growth before, especially over such a short period of time. It’s like all things that are new, I so desperately want it to take root into who I am, so badly I want all my new feelings and understandings to become who I am, and it’s scary because it’s so...

After writing last night, I thought about Nephi saying “we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ…” and I thought how I just brushed over that, mostly because I was out of time, but also because I wanted to move on, sometimes even though I’m learning so much, I get frustrated because I’m moving so slowly over the material, which I guess is the point, but the human side of me disagrees. But as soon as I hit “publish” I knew that I had done the Lord a disservice by basically ignoring a very profound message from Nephi about Jesus. I honestly thought about the phrase “we rejoice in Christ” the whole rest of the night, all the way driving home, which is about 45 minutes, as I got ready for bed and checked on the kids, and I laid in bed for probably 30 minutes looking up in my cool “ LDS Citation Index ” app many different talks that reference that verse. And that phrase again followed me all day today and I knew that I wasn’t moving on tonight; I needed to reflect seriously on Christ, how im...

25:21-22 - Interestingly enough, though there was not very much in the IM about last night's reading, there are like 3 pages about the 10 verses from tonight. To begin, Nephi says that "these things which I write shall be kept and preserved... and they shall go according to the will and pleasure of God." The IM expands on this saying "Nephi was commanded by the Lord to keep his record. He knew he had been commanded to write and he knew what to write; he may not have always known WHY he should write." It's kind of like "faith precedes the miracle." Nephi was commanded, and he obeyed, and it wasn't until later that the Lord revealed to him the purpose of the record. Just like Adam preformed animal sacrifices because he was commanded to, but he told the angel " I know not, save the Lord commanded me ." It wasn't until he obeyed the commandment that he was given the reason. I think about it from a parental perspective. If I tell my ki...

Last week was stake conference, and it's basically where instead of going to regular church services, the entire stake (usually about 3,000 members, though not all go) meets at the same building and the church leaders of many levels speak, but I never go to stake conference. To be honest, it's was like 2 hours of sticking myself in the eye with a fork, and then add on 2 little kids, yeah no thanks, I'll just hang out here. So as usual, I didn't go to stake conference last week. So that night I was chatting with a friend and we were talking about church and how our individual services were that day, and I mentioned that it was stake conference and that I didn't go. Sp he went on to tell me the benefits of going where we are supposed to go, stake conference, etc. and attending all my meetings, which to be honest, I usually don't, or do with boredom and irritation. As of last week, I was going to church out of obedience, I went because I was supposed to, and don...

The "prophesies" are difficult for me, I think just because I'm not there yet spiritually. I think it's the same reason why I can't get into dramatic or serious movies, or why the news is overwhelming to me or why I can't get into the whole "end of the world" stuff, I honestly just can't deal with it right now. I know that I'm probably doing myself a disservice by not diving deeply into them here, but honestly, I have a lot of responsibility in life and I'm trying my best. At this point I'm a "living in the moment" kind of person, I focus on what I can do today or maybe even tomorrow, because otherwise I get overwhelmed and am tempted to just shut down. So please forgive me for not being awesome, but do know that I am giving it 100%, even if my "all" is pathetic. 25:13 - An interesting phrase to me here is "he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings." And why this is interesting to me is bec...

Again, I am skipping the Isaiah chapters, I definitely want to spend a concerted effort and lots of time to understanding and studying Isaiah, but at this point I feel like it is too much for me to take on. Because I had heard somewhere that, concerning Isaiah, "it's great to quote the Lord, but it's even greater to be quoted BY the Lord" because of the many many times Isaiah was referenced by the Savior himself. 25:1-3 - The IM says the words of Isaiah were difficult for even the people of Nephi to understand, and they were only 100 years after Isaiah, which is interesting to me, because even though I've dabbled a bit in Old Testament study, and I loved it, I don't have a strong grip on ancient dates and time lines. In fact, I BYU has a TV channel and they have tons of really good stuff. I downloaded the Discussions on the Old Testament series, they were very good, where there is a panel of BYU professors discussing the scriptures. But despite all that, I ...

I guess I had in my mind today that this chapter is short, so I kept putting off writing, because I had read it really quick this morning, so I didn't really think that it would take that long, so here I am, bathed in personal problems with my kids, and I only have about 10 minutes to make this happen. I waited too long and got distracted. Clearly put, I didn't make it a priority tonight, and I should have. This is an interesting chapter to me because, up until my reading this time, I had only considered Jacob as a child still, or very young and immature in the gospel at most, because unlike Nephi, we don't really watch him grow up or see how he matures and learns, which he clearly does. But to suddenly hear "for (Isaiah) verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him. And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seem him." The IM talks about the witness of 3 to establish the Lord's doctrine, and here is is done, only 30 or so chapters into the Book of ...

10:15-18 - I'm not exactly sure what these verses mean, to be quite honest. There are some themes that I believe can be addressed here, such as in verse 15, the Lord "must needs destroy the secret works of darkness, and of murders, and of abomination." For me this references the concept that there is no hiding from God, that he is omniscient, he knows all, not only all knowledge as far as universal knowledge, but also he knows all that we not only do but what we think about and secretly desire as well. There is no secret or hidden places from the Lord, and believing or living like there is simply wastes our time and resources, but also is a deep deception as well. The day that we discover all the lies we told ourselves to be false will be a painful and dreadful day indeed, let's just hope that it's sooner rather than later. Verse 16 references God's treatment of all people equally. He not only loves us all, but he also will protect his chosen people against ev...

Spoiler alert: If anyone has lived under a rock for the last decade and has never heard of Netflix or the tv show "Lost" and will be devastated by hearing details about the ending, stop reading here, yes, again, it is that serious. One night a couple of weeks ago, I was writing in this blog and contemplating the meaning and extent of the "love of God." At that point God was really a stranger to me and as I thought about it more I had an experience that can only be explained by referencing the tv show "Lost." On "Lost" in the last season, all the characters are living in this alternate reality that, in a really weird way, turns out to be the afterlife and their own individual ways of settling past issues, etc. Anyway, one of the concepts that the show brings up is that idea that while in life, or the other 4 seasons, there were many "significant others," couple who shared a deep connection, deep love and commitment to each other. But m...

10:1-2 - When Jacob says that "many of our children shall perish un the flesh because of unbelief" I wonder if that was a known fact throughout society at that time. Like how we all know that one day Christ will come again, I wonder if they all had a general knowledge of their own eventual destruction as a people and the spiritual devastation that would follow their future generations. I mean, that seems kind of bleak. I think that hearing, as part of an isolated, related population, "eventually, all your posterity will not believe in Christ and will spiritually perish" I don't know, I don't think that I would handle that too well. Or maybe it was one of those things that is said and is so abstract that no one understands so they just kind of breeze over that point. 10:3 - Very interesting that an angel came to Jacob in between chapters 9 and 10 and told him the name of "Christ" as the member of the Godhead that would come to earth as a man. I di...

I just had the craziest, most wonderful experience. I met a man at work, an older gentleman, foreign, but I couldn't place where, and the first thing he said to me was "I love your smile" I said "thanks, I love your's too!" He was very nice and we were talking about his children, 2 doctors, an attorney and a PhD. He asked about mine, I told them I had 2 small kids. He asked if I was married, I told him I was divorced, he said that he was too. He was very nice, kept telling me how great I was and how we would get married if only I was a little older. He invited me to his house and told me he would pay for my kids to go to medical school and be doctors like his kids. He asked if I went to church, I told him that yes, I do go to church, he asked where, I told him I am Mormon, and he started yelling "shut up! Shut up!" I answered "no I really am." He says "I translated the Book of Mormon all the way to Alma, and I translated the Pearl of...

I took the kids to see the Smurfs 2 this past weekend and I was really not excited because I thought that it was going to be so stupid but guess what it was remarkably insightful and I came away feel uplifted and inspired a little bit. As everyone knows, I'm very new to all this knowledge stuff and I'm very new to a personal relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus, and I'm new to understanding not only how they love us but why they love us and the extent that that love is given. So when watching the Smurfs 2, I saw in cartoonish form the true depth of the love of God, and the true depth of the evil desires of satan, believe it or not. Spoiler alert! If you will be devastated to know the details of the Smurfs 2 movie and perhaps the ending, then stop reading. Yes, it is that serious. In the beginning of the movie it is revealed that Smurfette was originally made out of clay in a "less than perfect" form. Papa Smurf gave her "smurf essence" and allow...

I can't believe I might actually be finishing chapter 9 tonight! It's a Christmas miracle! It's been 10 days, and don't get me wrong, they have been fantastic, lots learned but on the other hand my goodness this has been a long chapter. I shouldn't be concerned with the numbers, I know that, but, really, who's not even a little bit interested in them. 9:46 - One thing I love about Jacob is his bluntness in speech. In his book, he uses this, but here is our first taste of his "if you guys weren't being naughty I wouldn't have to talk to you like this." Definitely a different teaching style than his brother, but like I said, I love Jacob. I guess in that way, he kind of reminds me of myself, it's funny because in verse 46 after he says "let's be righteous so that we can look forward to judgement day" he continues, in my own words of course "otherwise you will be forced to say: God, you are right, I know I was an idiot and...