Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

I honestly have no idea about how Paul flows from one topic to another, and maybe at some other point in my life I will understand, I think for now all I need to focus on is the message, so I’m going to stick with that for now. But some of the topics are pretty interesting, such as when Paul points out that even though many Jews had rejected the Savior, “hath God cast away his people?” God forbid.” Just because the majority of Jews alive at the time of Christ didn’t accept Him as their Savior, doesn’t mean that they are done as a people. And honestly, that goes for all people, this is a basic tenet of the gospel, Jesus will always take us into his fold whenever we are ready to accept Him, regardless of our nationality, race, time we lived, etc. Paul uses the word “foreknew” to describe the Jews that rejected him. The chapter summary implies that this word means “foreordained,” which it probably does, but I think it makes anot...

Earlier in chapter 10, we read that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” but then Paul asks, essentially, how people are supposed to call upon an entity that they don’t know. This is a fair point and Paul asks “how shall they hear without a preacher?” I didn’t really think that this would have been a big deal, but really, if we think about it, how else are people supposed to learn about the gospel? Yes there are some people who naturally are more inclined to believe or have basic understanding of the gospel, but the doctrine and ordinances etc. have to be taught. It seems that Paul’s not only saying that the gentiles are worthy of the gospel, but that they need to be taught by the very people he’s trying to convince of their worthiness. Paul also reminds them of the blessings of preaching the gospel, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good thing...

I feel a lot better about things today, I’m not sure why but I just do. I saw a picture today, I’ll try to post it so you can see it, but it’s a picture of an old WWII tank abandoned and rusting on a beautiful beach on Puerto Rico. It’s the strange contrast between old metal machinery designed for death and the beautiful, green livelihood of nature. It occurred to me while looking at that picture that it really is the perfect analogy for our existence. All I thought was “this is what man creates and this is what God creates.” What man creates, the tank, might seem to have it’s usefulness at the time but ultimately it becomes subject to the decay and break down that is inherent in this life. What God creates however, is perpetual, there is a system to sustain that life that has been in place from the beginning, and it not only renews life, but it does so in a beautiful way that is a treasure and life giver to plants, animals, and people a like....

Just like I wrote about the picture of the tank on the beach being a powerful message about man’s abilities vs. God’s abilities, this is also pertinent to the audience Paul is writing to in Rome who are trying to “establish their own righteousness, (and) have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” They have convinced themselves that creating their own righteousness will yield the same results as adhering to God’s righteousness, which we know will end up with them being rusty tanks on the beach. I honestly still don’t know what Paul is talking about here, but when we get to verses 9 and 10 he says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” This seems like a pretty standard, straight forward statement of be...

As we continue on in chapter 10 of Romans, I continue to have absolutely no idea what is going on. Although Paul has just lamented Israel’s rejection of the gospel, he continues, “my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.” He doesn’t want them to be cast off, he wants them to repent and for God to show them mercy. But Paul also recognizes that they have not only rejected Christ and his gospel, but that they are “going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” I feel like I do this so much in my own life, and I mean, maybe not a ton technically, but I’ve really been struggling lately to convince myself that the exactness of the law is what I absolutely have to do. Meaning that I’m like “well, if I do this certain thing, it’s not really that big of a deal.” Or like “so many other people do it, what’s the pr...

Paul switches his focus from Sara, Rebecca, Jacob and Esau to Moses and I don’t really understand what he is saying and how it fits into the themes of what he’s talking about. Paul mentions Moses and Pharaoh’s interactions and cites back to the record that implies that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, which we know is inaccurate. The IM explains, “In Romans 9:17, Paul quoted Exodus 9:16, which states that God raised up Pharaoh in order to show His power. Paul also said, ‘whom (God) will he hardeneth.’ These passages do not mean that God caused Pharaoh or other people to be wicked. Such an interpretation would contradict truths taught elsewhere in the scriptures about how God desires the salvation of all people, and how God’s gift of agency makes us free to choose to follow Him or reject Him.” The IM also points out that the next several verses are quoted and expounded from the Old Testament, which would explain why I have absolutely n...

I’ve had an illuminating experience over the last couple of weeks, and it’s been kind of a crossroads for me. I’ve had several of these types of times in my life where I have to choose one way or the other and I have to really dissect myself and my past and my future, and honestly, I usually end up making the wrong choice and it’s incredibly painful. I’ve worked so hard to get where I am spiritually, that it’s almost incomprehensible that I would give that up for any reason… almost. Then I have to go back and confront the fact that perhaps I’m not as strong in the faith as I thought that I was. My friend said something really powerful to me today though, that we all have our own issues and that this one is mine and it’s not going to go away and that I need to learn to deal with it. There was no justification in it, no “I understand why you feel that way,” or anything like that. I really needed to hear that because I wil...

When we first started studying Romans, the IM broke the themes of the book down into three sections. Romans 1-3 focused on “the doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ,” where Paul “defined the plight of sinfulness that faces all mankind and taught that God’s solution to this problem for all people, whether Jew or Gentile, was the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” Romans 4-8 focused on the need to grow out of the law of Moses and into the gospel of Christ with baptism, faith, obedience, and the blessings the come from obeying the gospel. Finally, Romans 9-16 talks about “Israel’s election, present rejection of the gospel and eventual salvation.” Basically, Paul has gone through why we need the gospel of Jesus Christ, how it works, and now will discuss how to make it work in their lives specifically. There is a concept brought up in verse 4 that was also discussed in chapter 8, but I didn’t mention it, and that is the concept o...

As much comfort the statement “all things work together for good to them that love God,” this is more than just a soothing sentiment, it also teaches about God’s omniscience. This means that this statement confirms the fact that God knows everything that is, was, and ever will be. How? God controls all that happens to us, so he would have to know exactly what trials and treasures would help us grow instead of destroying us. Therefore, he must know the end from the beginning, or else our whole existence is just a catch all of cosmic events with no rhyme or reason. Paul continues to emphasize the point that our lives are not happenstance when he points out that the plan of salvation was “predestinate.” Not only was the plan known beforehand, but those “whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” This is a discussion of “foreordination,” whi...

Last night as I went to pray, I remembered what we had discussed about the Spirit guiding our prayers and I tried to at least feel what I should say, and it went interestingly, in a good way. But I had a crazy night so I didn’t put too much effort into it because I was exhausted. I definitely related to the part of verse 26 which says “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” There is so much of my life where I can’t even put it to words how I feel, and sometimes I can, but I can’t convey the depth or urgency in which I harbor those feelings. But I believe that Heavenly Father can feel the anxiety in my soul even when I can’t express it and can only feel it, and that’s exactly what Paul says here. I love all these concepts, but I struggle to see how they are all connected, like how do the ideas in this letter flow together? Paul makes an interesting statement about the will of God saying, “we know that all things work together for good...

While we go through the battle of the natural man vs. the spiritual man, there is one part that I didn’t cover yesterday that I thought was important to discuss. Verse 13 says, “for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” The concept of natural man vs. spiritual man is interesting because we know that Heavenly Father has a body and we know that we wanted a body too and we know that we cannot reach a fullness of joy without a body. This information would lead us to believe that our bodies are good and our physical experiences match that in importance with our spiritual experiences. But then we are taught that we are to overcome our natural urges, to “put off the natural man,” and learn self-mastery. So it seems like there are these two conflicting perspectives, one that says “your body is an amazing gift,” and the other that says, “Don’t do what your bo...

Unlike chapter 7, Romans chapter 8 is much easier to understand and honestly, quite beautiful in many parts. Paul continues talking about the duality of man, but now instead of focusing on the difficulty of overcoming the physical appetites, he focuses on the rewards of doing so. The IM sets out some definitions before we get started stating that when Paul uses the word “Spirit,” “he was primarily referring to ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,’ or to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ established after the law of Moses.” So when Paul references the “Spirit” we will associate that with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Likewise, the IM continues, “With the word flesh, he was primarily referring to the law of Moses, which was ‘weak through the flesh.’” It seems like all of a sudden everyone is talking about how bad and terrible the law of Moses is, but we know that this was ...

The IM points out that verses 14-27 have quite a bit of information added into them from the JST, which the IM says “provides numerous clarifications of these difficult scriptural passages.” Jokes on me because I still don’t really understand what Paul is saying in this section. There’s a lot of talk about sin and law and flesh and evil that I just don’t understand what he’s saying exactly, honestly I’m completely lost. Fortunately, for me, the IM gives a pretty good break down of what Paul is trying to say in the second half of chapter 7, which is an exposition of “the conflict between ‘the flesh’ and ‘the inward man.’” This makes sense because if Paul is teaching about the difference between the law of Moses and the gospel of Christ, then the need to expound on the varying purposes of the change is important. From what I’ve heard, before we came to earth, when we were chosen to experience this morta...

When Paul was explaining baptism to the people, he likened being buried in the waters of baptism like dying and being buried, and being raised out of the water to signify that we “walk in the newness of life.” This is a pretty straight forward way to expand understanding of the scriptures, and Paul takes it one step further and uses death to help his audience understand the difference between the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul says “the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.” The IM says “Paul used a marriage metaphor to explain that Israel was once bound to the law of Moses, as a wife is bound to her husband.” These statements seem pretty degrading to the woman, but I would contest that a man is legally bound to his wife during their marriage as long as she is alive as well. If a wife “be married to another man” while she is already married, “she shall be called an ...