Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

14:12 - There's a pretty smooth transition between asking and receiving from God to "therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets." The IM calls this the Golden Rule, when it quotes Elder Russell M. Nelson who teaches, "This principle is found in nearly every major religion. Others such as Confucius and Aristotle have also taught it. After all, the gospel did not begin with the birth of the Babe in Bethlehem. It is everlasting. It was proclaimed in the beginning to Adam and Eve. Portions of the gospel have been preserved in many cultures. Even heathen mythologies have been enriched by fragments of truth from earlier dispensations. Wherever it is found and however it is expressed, the Gold Rule encompasses the moral code of the kingdom of God. It forbids interference by one with the rights of another. It is equally binding upon nations, associations, and individuals. With compassion an...

14:6 - We have a really interesting metaphor here by the Savior saying, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, left they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." While listening to HN, he had a really poignant and funny commentary on this when he said something like, "why wouldn't you want to give these things to the pigs, they are nice creatures, don't they want to have nice things too?" I thought, true, very true. JW puts the conundrum into perfect perspective when he says, "For most readers, 'the original meaning (of this saying) is puzzling.' The logion is a riddle. This saying seems badly out of place or hard to explain for most interpreters of the Sermon on the Mount, for after demanding that the disciple should love his neighbor, even his enemy, it seems inconsistent for Jesus to call these people 'dogs' and 'swine' and to require his followers to withhold ...

14:1-2 - Judgment, oh sweet glorious judgment, my favorite topic, well not really, but I like it anyway. Jesus is again addressing the multitude when he teaches “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” It’s interesting, this concept of being measured by your own stick, as a young girl with really no guidance as far as how to be and how to act and how to treat others I just kind of had to wing it and to be honest, I did really poorly. I was not a kind or happy person, and it was bad. I would say that I was very judgmental of other people, and it’s true that unhappy people will try to justify themselves by making others feel bad, bring those they are jealous of or view as a threat down to make themselves feel better. I was insanely jealous of everyone, I judged their situation to be amazing while wallowing in my own mess, and I was really really harsh with everyon...

13:33-34 – It might seem like these two verses aren’t worth their own blog post, and initially, I thought that, but the more I thought about it and the more that I read about it, the more I thought it worth our attention. It was interesting because listening to the Ensign the whole focus was on treasures in heaven and putting the kingdom of God first. Jesus continues his lesson to the twelve disciples, they will be taken care of in their temporal needs, when they “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought foe the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.” The theme of the last several verses is that we are to trust God, and really it’s about putting off the natural man, and allowing Christ to change our hearts. I read about seeking treasures in heaven on Friday, and it just so happened that our stake conference was this last weeken...

13:25-32 - Jesus now turns from the multitude and addresses only "the twelve whom he had chosen, and said unto them:... take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" The IM teaches "The Book of Mormon clarifies the meaning of Matthew 6:25-32 by indicating that Jesus was speaking to the twelve Nephite disciples for this portion of the sermon. After Jesus delivered this charge to them, he then turned and began to speak to the multitude again. It is helpful to note that Jesus repeatedly turned back and forth between these two audiences throughout His sermon." So what does that mean? Does that mean that Jesus won't help us because we aren't called to be part of his church leadership? Of course not, I almost feel blasphemous saying that. As JW notes that there are "anxieties that come perhaps less from the ordinary cares of dai...

13:19-24 - Now we get to one of my favorite subjects, spiritual currency. Jesus teaches “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal; Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” There’s a recurring theme throughout the scriptures of spiritual treasure, mansion, compensation, etc. Lots of economic concepts applied to non-economic principles. There’s so much that I want to say about this and eventually I want to write a book about spiritual currency and the principle of compensation and in fact I know that one of my best friends and I were soul sisters when she said the same exact thing. The IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching “Our affections are often too highly placed upon the paltry perishable objects. Material treasures of earth are merely to provide us, as it were, room and board while we are here at school...

13:14-15 -The Lord is very repetitive in the lesson that we must forgive in order to be forgiven, as it is in both verse 11 in the prayer and now as the first lesson of emphasis afterwards. In an April 1983 general conference address entitled “ To Forgive is Divine ” Theodore M. Burton taught “Jesus Christ gave his life to reconcile us to God so that through his atonement we can repent and receive forgiveness of our sins. We owe our Savior a great debt. Part of that debt is the obligation we have to forgive one another… That forgiveness which comes from our Heavenly Father is so complete that he will not even call to mind the sins we have committed. His forgiveness is so all-inclusive that the Lord will not even remember those sins… As we plead for mercy, we need to show mercy to others. The injury people do us may appear at the moment to be very great. Yet, just as time heals the wounds of the body, so time also heals the wounds of the soul. As we apply disinfectants to aid in healing...

13:11 - I was having quite the crisis last night, and to be honest, today as well, it’s honestly been a mess, but I’m trying to work through it with Jesus. I think that this is one of those times when I need to learn that God’s will is better than my will, that these struggles aren’t meant to destroy but to strengthen. The Lord is so merciful to teach me lessons as I need to learn them and as I am able to understand them. As I was driving to work yesterday I listened to an article entitled “Heavenly Help for Our Mortal Journey,” by Bishop Dean M. Davies, in which he told of a Q&A session that he attended with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. While at the meeting, Elder Holland deferred a question to Bishop Davies which was “Does the Lord give us challenges that are intended to impede our progress?” That’s an excellent question, if I am to believe what I tell others, and then I must believe that the struggles that I am experiencing with my son are there because of the lessons that we both ...

13:9-10 - Now we're into the Lord's Prayer. Jesus begins, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." JET says in "Jesus the Christ" "This is the earliest Biblical scripture giving instruction, permission, or warrant, for addressing God directly as 'Our Father.' Therein is expressed the reconciliation which the human family, estranged through sin, may attain by the means provided through the well beloved Son. This instruction is equally definite in demonstrating the brotherhood between Christ and humanity. As He prayed so pray we to the same Father, we are brethren and Christ as our Elder Brother." That is an interesting phrase for Jesus to use, "Our Father," not "my father" or "their Father" or even "your Father" it's "Our Father," both of us, he's the Father of us all. Jesus continues "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The IM quotes President Henry ...

13:5-8 - Just a warning, or perhaps a promise, depending on how you look at it, this is going to be a heavily quoted post, so there won't be time for tons of my own personal ramblings. Sorry or you're welcome, depending. We are now taken to "The Lord's Prayer" or as JW calls it, the true order of prayer. I've always struggled with the concept of prayer, like, why do we pray if God already knows what we need. First we art instructed "when thou prayest thou shalt not do as the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I saw unto you, they have their reward." Again I don't understand how anyone would equate praying on street corners or anything like that to anything positive, I guess that's because "street preachers" as we know them today are usually looked at like crazy people. I guess that would have to go as well, into praying at church meeti...

13:1-4 - The Lord now takes us alms-giving and really emphasizes having the right motives, "I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor." Let's talk first about the need to give to the poor, JW says "Although the law of the gospel is never expressly defined in scripture, I understand this law to be the law of love and generosity... The only place in scripture where the phrase 'law of the gospel' appears is in the Doctrine and Covenants, where it is connected with caring for the poor and needy... In all dispensations, covenant people have been required to give to the poor and to lend to those who ask. Generosity was required of the children of Israel and of the people of King Benjamin as a condition of their covenant, qualifying them to receive God's generosity." Very interesting point there, it's like the parable of the man who is forgiven a debt of ten talents but then goes and exacts repayment on a man who owes him next to nothing, ...

12:41-48 - I'm kind of at a different place tonight because I've heard something really awful and I don't really like to bring up political stuff up in this because I like to focus on the Gospel, but this, I think goes hand in hand. I'm really kind of at a loss because I had someone say something to me about ISIS in Iraq crucifying children and I thought "that's pretty far fetched," but I looked at it and yeah it's happening, it's sick, and I'm reminded why I can't mentally engage in heavy stuff like this because I had a little break down. It's even more difficult for me personally because I was there, during the initial invasion when Saddam was overthrown and we basically opened up the way for the most violent to take over the government. I supported the war, many people did, but I didn't know then what I know now, and unfortunately, it's too late. I have read about what these people are doing and I'm reminded of the atro...

12:33-37 - We go from the topic of adultery and divorce to swearing oaths, it's kind of an interesting jump and I think that JW made it clear when he said, "Some biblical commentators have found this section in the Sermon on the Mount odd because it does not continue logically with the sequence of commandments in the Decalogue, as one might expect Jesus to follow if he were simply giving a commentary on the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Moreover, it is hard to see this as a demand of love. Instead, instructions are given on how religious commitments are to be made." That's a fair assessment and how I felt about much of this sermon, it just kind of jumps from topic to topic, but now seeing the different view point it seems a little bit more clear, even though I'm still trying to piece is together. HN comments on this concept when he says, "This next verse is about perjury. Unsteady and uncertain creatures that we are, we should not make defi...