Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

So I'm leaving on vacation this coming Tuesday to go to Costa Rica for 3 weeks. I've been kind of freaking out about it so I've been spending all of my free time preparing for that. Plus work has been pretty hectic, so between the two I haven't made scripture study a priority. I've noticed that I'm definitely more anxious and more easily sucked into the drama than I usually am when I am studying everyday. I've definitely been able to make the connection between scripture study and my sense of peace. I've been pretty nervous about my trip, which is unlike me but I think its because I'm going alone with my kids. They are older but I'm still a single white woman traveling alone in a third world country with two kids. I'm sure we'll be fine and I feel fine about going. We dont party, we don't drive at night, we're not reckless, so I feel pretty confident, but maybe just a heightened level of mothers anxiety at work here. I'm als...

The little group of 12 men finally made it to the gate at the garden of Gethsemane, and Jesus instructs the all except Peter, James, and John (PJJ from now on) to “sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” Going into the garden, he takes PJJ with with him a ways then says, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” I’ve honestly been racking my brain trying to figure out why Jesus would have had PJJ come into the garden with Him, instead of having them wait out front with the rest of the disciples. I don’t think that I’ve discovered any new, revealing information, but I did have a couple of thoughts.  First, we know that Jesus doesn’t need anything from us, that He is fully capable of performing and providing for himself, but that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t appreciate some support or kindness. One of the thoughts I always have about the atonement is that if Jesus has felt all...

I tried to think about why Jesus chose the Garden of Gethsemane to begin the atonement, and the conclusion that I came to was that ultimately, it doesn’t matter where it happened, only that it did. With that being said, understanding the where, why, and how of the location can lend insight into the process of the atonement and some symbolic meaning. Let’s review a little bit because it seems like months ago that we discussed the Last Supper in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem, but in the actual time, it’s only been a few minutes. Jesus and the 11 remaining disciples left the hour where they had eaten the Passover meal and had the ordinance of the sacrament instituted, and I would imagine, walked through the city to the east gate and from there, left the city of Jerusalem. Jesus had continued teaching his disciples on the way, and finally offered a prayer as they reached the garden. John tells us that the route was “over the brook Cedron, where was a garde...

I’ll give you a hint about what subject we are moving into, Jesus just entered Gethsemane and it’s about to get intense. I have to be honest, the idea of evaluating and discussing the Atonement of Jesus Christ is completely intimidating to me. I don’t feel like I know a ton about it, I’ve struggled with understanding it my whole life, and now that I feel like I have a better grasp on it, I’m still wary because do I understand enough to speak and not lead someone astray? Are my ideas reasonable? How do I, of all people, attempt to discuss the most important event to ever occur in the history of the universe? But I’m going to do my best, please understand that this will probably contain a lot of “gospel by Amy” and take everything I say with a grain of salt. I spent most of the time today going through the different accounts of the events in Gethsemane and making an outline of what’s discussed in the IM and how it all flows together. I...

This is it, this is where Jesus lays out his whole vision for the work his disciples are about to embark on. I really want to finish this chapter today because then we can start on the Atonement next week, and that’s going to be deep. We also get a bit of waxing philosophical, which I don’t understand a lot of, so there’s that. Jesus asks the Father to “sanctify them though thy truth: thy word is truth.” I’ve never really understood the concept of “sanctification.” I guess because it’s in the sacrament prayers and I’ve heard it used so much, that it’s just become a “be better” idea, but I don’t feel like that is correct. The “Guide to the Scriptures” defines “Sanctification” as “The process of becoming free from sin, pure, clean, and holy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So how are we made clean and pure through the truth? Well, if the truth is that God’s comma...

He’s made it clear to his disciples that this is it, he’s going home, so Jesus turns his prayer to those who will be left behind to carry out the work. He says that “Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.” They have been following Jesus for the last 3 years, learning from him and becoming the types of people needed to take the gospel to the whole world after Jesus leaves. It must have been encouraging for his disciples to hear their Master sing their praises to the God of the universe. He prays for them because they believe in Him. This prayer Jesus is giving right now is compared to the prayer that Jesus offered when he visited the Americas in 3 Nephi 19:28-29, which is incredibly similar and gives further insight. There is a phrase in verse 12 that has me wondering about the meaning. He says, “those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.” I thought he was initial...

Even though the atonement hasn’t been officially performed yet, Jesus tells his Father, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” He’s almost done and he’s ready to go home. There are a couple of points from this statement that I think are important. First, even though the atonement isn’t finished yet, he’s considered it as done. Indeed, people had been repenting since the dawn of time, or how was it possible for people to repent and believe in the gospel if the atonement hadn’t actually taken place yet? In the book “The Infinite Atonement” author Tad R. Callister addresses this issue by asking, “What if the Savior chose not to proceed? What if no blood were ever shed? The principle of retroactive credit should not seem foreign to us today… Over long eons of time in the pre-mortal realm he p...

Jesus continues, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” There are several points to be made in just this very simple statement. First, it might not seem like it, but what I get out of “and this is life eternal” is “this is the purpose of our existence.” “This is” connotes the end result of something, the cumulative purpose. I take this verse to mean “the purpose of life is to know God and Jesus Christ.” That seems pretty accurate. We talked about why it’s important to know God and why Jesus was trying to teach us about who God is, but what does it mean to know God? Is it knowing information about Him or an incorporation of his character into ourselves? The IM says, “Knowing God means more than believing that He exists or having an intellectual understanding about Him; it means becoming acquainted with Him through personal experience and living...

It appears that they have made it to the Mount of Olives. Jesus knows the time line that he is following for the rest of his mortal life, and he knows that most of his disciples won’t see him in a position to speak freely again, so he begins a prayer that also doubles as His farewell speech, as pointed out in the article “The Great Intercessory Prayer of Jesus” on  trusting-in-jesus.com . We’ve talked before about what we would want our last words to be to our loved ones if we knew it was our last chance to give them, this is what Jesus wanted his disciples to hear, both advice, comfort, and invoking the blessings of heaven on them. The concept of “glory” is brought up first, “glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.” I’ve always struggled with this concept because of how our society has associated it with self-aggrandizement, which we know is toxic. We all know of politicians whose main goal is to be “rememb...

Even though dark days are coming for the Apostles, Jesus reassures them that “the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me.: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” I’ve thought a lot about why the Holy Ghost wasn’t with the disciples at that point and even though I don’t know for sure, I think that having the Spirit and the Savior together working on the people would have been too much for anyone to learn anything for themselves, it seems like there would have been a conflict with agency.   It’s really a roller coaster of emotions, but it seems like Jesus is trying to prepare them for the transition from having Him with them all the time to learning to rely on the Spirit. He warns them further that tough times are coming, and acknowledges that “because I have said these tings unto you, sorrow h...

The disciples are commanded to love one another, but are reminded that intense hatred is coming their way. Jesus tells them that, “if the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you… but all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.” It’s one thing to believe in Jesus or anything really when every one else either believes in it too or doesn’t care enough to make it a big deal. But once you start venturing into concepts and beliefs that people don’t like, they can make life for you very bad, very quickly. And why is that? Why do people care enough about anyone else’s beliefs and lifestyles to make it a big deal? Why can’t people just mind their own business? I understand if those beliefs are hurting or infringing on the rights of others, but usually they aren’t. Why does anyone care? I think the answer is best explained by the quote that I really like but can...