Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

7:1-15 - Here is Jacob's encounter with the first anti Christ in the Book of Mormon. My first question when this comes up is "what does he gain by teaching that there is no Christ?" He would probably not be very popular in the beginning so it probably didn't start as a way to get famous, especially in this small community. I wonder if it started in the small simple way that we must be so careful with, I wonder if it started as a way for Sherem to justify himself in committing sin. He wanted to do something contrary to God's law, and the righteous part of him knew it was wrong, so he kept rationalizing until he not only silenced his conscience but then began rationalizing to all those around him. Especially in light of Jacob's teachings in chapter 6, I would imagine that Sherem was one of those who desired wives and concubines, and after Jacob's denunciation of that practice, Sherem tore apart God's teachings as a way to excuse himself. The Lord doesn...

This is an exceptionally long chapter, 77 verses in all, and I was thinking about breaking it down like I usually do, but I feel that this time around it's going to be best to just discuss this whole chapter as one episode, in the spirit as taught by the IM "al allegory or parable should not be stretched too far in an attempt to correlate every item precisely with some symbolic meaning." Reading the IM teaching on this chapter is quite in depth and that shouldn't surprise me, as the chapter is very long, and there are two distinct facets, the actual history, scattering, and gathering of Israel and then the spiritual over reach, and while the historical aspect is very interesting, I'm going to focus on the overall spiritual teachings, because getting into the details of the historical aspect right now is going to be a little bit too much for me. It's very interesting, very Hebrew in nature, the vineyard, the olive tree, the Master, the servant, etc. I know that...

Unfortunately, I've been SO busy tonight, SO busy this whole week, that I'm very limited in what I have time to write, but I have SO much to say because I've been thinking about these topics, the question I asked last night, "how are we benefitted by recognizing and relying on God?" and then the rest of chapter 4, because as usual the Lord goes above and beyond to teach me, and the Ensign articles that I've been listening to in the car have fit perfectly with these verses. First off, to lump the rest of the chapter together because I really don't have time to go into splitting them up, etc. There are a few points that Jacob brings up that go together and with what I've learned recently. First point is that God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, he is all powerful, Jacob asks "if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon ...

Just to follow up on my little melt down last night, I really thought about what I had been doing, how I had been thinking and acting recently, and my heightened level of anxiety about everything, and I realized that I had made up my own little plan of how my life would be perfect, I would get a better shift at work, I would get married in the temple to an awesome man who loves me and my kids, and we would live happily ever after, and it was frustrating to me because that's how I saw my circumstances improving, but I never stopped to think for one second what the Lord had in mind for me. It's interesting, going back to the mermaid tail analogy, I tried to think about it not from the view of a flawed, mortal, exhausted woman, but instead I tried to imagine God's thoughts and methods when I come to him asking for certain things to improve my life, like a better shift or a righteous man. Those are righteous desires, but that doesn't mean that it's all just going to be ...

3:1-4 – I have never understood what “pure in heart” means, I have never felt that I was pure in heart, and honestly I still don’t. I feel like I’ve always been too cynical, too jaded to be pure in heart. Even now after all the growth that I’ve made, I still feel like a pure heart is like childhood innocence, once it’s lost its gone forever. I guess that doesn’t make sense, since that is not the theme of the Lord’s work, there is always the opportunity to come back, to be restored spiritually, to make even the vilest of sinners become the prophet, just like Alma the younger, or Alma Jr. as me and the kids call him. This verse seems to be cited many time, and rereading it, maybe it’s not “if you’re pure in heart, do this,” but instead a recipe for becoming pure in heart. Looking at it from that perspective, verse 1 might read, as I paraphrase, to be pure in heart, “look unto God with firmness of mind, pray unto him with exceeding faith,” and the result of that will be “he will console y...

2:23-24 - I think it's very interesting that the Lord says "they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son." This is a similar argument made by those who say "but Jesus drank wine in the Bible," or "Jesus had long hair so I don't have to cut mine." It's finding ways to do what you want, that is contrary to the teachings of modern day prophets, but still feel justified by the scriptures. I think it's way more common than we would imagine, because everyone just wants to do what we want to do all the time. But like the Lord says, if they understood the scriptures, they would know that polygamy is only authorized the the Lord commands it. Polygamy has been an interesting issue for me, very few people in the church understand it, I feel that it's considered a "dark time" of church history, kind of a hushed...

2:14-17 - In no uncertain terms Jacob makes it clear that the Lord "condemneth" those who "suppose that ye are better than they." He continues saying that the Almighty God can "with one glance of his eye he can smite you to the dust!" Here I believe that he is illustrating the power God has to punish those who "persist in these things" and that to the guilty "his judgements must speedily come unto you." And I absolutely see that he needs to do the stick more than the carrot right now, and making sure that the people know that not only is God not pleased with their attitudes, he has the power to instantly destroy them instantly and at will. But maybe another point that can be taken here is that the people are prideful over their riches, but if God has all power to destroy them at will, he also has all power to devastate them financially. And it's not just those who are disobedient, so I guess what I'm trying to say is Jacob demon...

I was hoping to get more done tonight, but I've been busy, so that's a bummer. 2:6-7 - I wonder why Jacob is personally feels "shame" before God for having to "testify unto (the people) concerning the wickedness of (their) hearts." Maybe it goes back to his humility, maybe he feels personally responsible for the down fall of the people. He is most upset that "I must use so much boldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children." There's a good chance that most of the women did not know that their husbands desired to commit adultery in their hearts, and surely most children had no clue that their fathers had such wicked intentions. It's like the ultimate Maury reveal, deep dark secrets uncovered in front of everyone. I can understand how that would be a responsibility that would be grievous to be born. But one of my main reasons that I love this chapter is because of the following phrase, "many of whose feelings a...

This is one of my favorite chapters in the whole Book of Mormon, I'm not sure why exactly, but I just love the way that Jacob stands up for women and makes it clear that they are important to God, very important. It's very validating for me. 1:1-3 - The IM teaches that Jacob comes to the temple to teach with "soberness... desire and anxiety for the welfare" of the souls of his people. Elder Jeffery R. Holland says "Jacob spends much of ten full verses apologizing, in effect, for the sins he must address and the language he must use in addressing them... Listen to the mournful tone of these passages-literally the grief of them- as he single-mindedly pursues what he has always been single-minded about- steadfast loyalty to God and His commandment... We are not even into the discourse per se before we sense that, quite literally, this bold and unyielding manner of preaching is almost as hard on Jacob as it is on the guilty ones in his audience. But perhaps that is...

I love Jacob, he is one of my absolute favorite Book of Mormon writers. The IM puts into wonderful words, why I feel that he is so unique and special, quoting Elder Jeffery R. Holland, “No prophet in the Book of Mormon, by temperament or personal testimony, seems to have gone about that work of persuasion any more faithfully than did Jacob. He scorned the praise of the world, he taught straight, solid, even painful doctrine, and he knew the Lord personally. His is a classic Book of Mormon example of a young man’s suffering the cross and bear the shame of the world in defense of the name of Christ. Life, including those difficult early years when he say the wickedness of Laman and Lemuel bring his father and mother down to their graves in grief, was never easy for this firstborn in the wilderness.” I love that he said “he knew the Lord personally.” What does it mean to know the Lord personally? Nephi had an interesting transition from boy to prophet, being called of the Lord because of ...