Nearer, My God, to Thee

Image Credit: LDS Media Library

General Conference this weekend was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband's talk really penetrated my heart. His reminder to never forget the spiritual experiences we have had struck me. When I was regularly studying the gospel, I had many spiritual experiences that I, thankfully, recorded in my journal. Lately I have been lacking in my study of the gospel, mostly because I went to grad school and spent all of my time on graduate studies. I tried to at least keep up on reading the Book of Mormon, although I didn't have much time to devote to the study of it. I just kept reading. I believe that helped me through what was a very stressful time in my life.

When I mentioned to my husband that I needed to find a time to study the gospel, he mentioned to me that I should spend my lunch period at work studying the gospel and writing in my blog. I have to pump on my lunch period because I am breastfeeding, so I am tied to my desk in my classroom. I have been having a little bit of a pity party about it the past few weeks because I like spending time in the faculty room with my colleagues, and I liked being able to take a break from work. But lately I have been working through my lunch since I am attached to my desk anyway. It is hard to stop and do something else. But this! This, studying the gospel. I can take a break from work for that!

So if you need a little lunch time pick-me-up, feel free to check out my blog around lunch time during the work week. I will likely post something every day. If it doesn't help you, at least it will be helping me!

What messages hit you the hardest during General Conference? What changes are you planning to make in your life because of what you heard? Did you notice any themes?

Change Your Life

There are a lot of things I don't know yet. And it seems the more I study, the more I realize I don't know. But I am trying to learn and study and grow. For the past several years I have done a lot of gospel studying. Mostly I have been studying about womanhood and what it means to be a woman and what my place and my responsibilities are as a mother.

But then a few weeks ago I was asked to give a talk on Easter Sunday (today) on the atonement. I put a lot of my other studies on hold to do an in depth study of the atonement and what I found was remarkable. My life changed. My attitudes, actions, my ability to receive revelation, everything changed. I was given more strength to do the impossible (and with a full time job, a husband, and six kids twelve and under it seems like every day is impossible!). It took me a while to figure out what had changed, but then I was writing my talk and I realized that studying the atonement of Jesus Christ is the single most important thing that changed my life.

From now on in my study of gospel topics I am looking for the connections to the atonement. What does the atonement teach me about my purpose as a woman?

There is a power that comes from studying the atonement, and I hope that putting the atonement at the center of my other studies will help me better understand those other studies.

(by the way, Elder Callister's book is a fantastic place to start your study of the atonement!)

Do you notice a change in your life when you study the atonement? How does the atonement help you understand other gospel topics that you study?

The Lifespan of the House of Israel

This past weekend I came up on Jacob chapter 5 - that's right, Zenos' allegory of the olive tree. Because it is nearly 100 symbolism-rich verses long I decided to skip the Book of Mormon reading for that night and wait until the next evening when I would have a little more time to devote to studying the allegory.

A verse I read in Chapter 4 stuck out to me. I had never really thought about the relationship between what Jacob had been talking about and the allegory. Turns out there was a reason Jacob quoted the allegory (I think I should probably pay closer attention when I study the Book of Mormon... This is probably not news to anyone but me). In verse 17, Jacob poses the question, "How is it possible that [the Jews], after having rejected the sure foundation, can ever build upon it, that it may become the head of their corner?"

I'd say this is a valid question for anyone who has rejected the Savior at some point in their lives.

Honestly I didn't get very far in Jacob 5 because I got stuck on verse 3 where Zenos says the House of Israel is like a tame olive tree and then he says "and it grew, and waxed old, and began to decay." And I couldn't help thinking "How long does a normal olive tree live?"

So I looked it up. According to various sources (i.e. a Google search) an olive tree lives to be about 2,000 years old.


Image CreditYellow.Cat

And that got me thinking some more - how many years was it from the time of Jacob (also known as "Israel") and the time of Christ? (we know the House of Israel was in a state of apostasy by that time).

So I looked that up, too. According to the LDS Seminary Old Testament bookmark (you know the cool plastic bookmark with the chronology on one side and the scripture mastery verses on the other?) it was a little under 2,000 years.


Hmmm... So the House of Israel had about the same life expectancy as an olive tree.

It made the olive tree allegory that much more meaningful to me.

I haven't studied the rest of the allegory yet, but I am interested to see what other connections I will make reading it in the light of the house of Israel having the same lifespan as an olive tree.

Have you ever been reading the scriptures and had a thought - or a question - come to your mind that eventually helped you get more out of what you were studying?


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Just Like Today

I was reading a post at Middle-aged Mormon Man discussing the prevalence of war in the Book of Mormon and then I as flipping through this month's Ensign where I saw an article that talked about the same idea.



And then I had a thought: although our world is somewhat frightening today (I would say more frightening than it has ever been) I almost feel like I was expecting it to be this way. I am definitely not saying that I like the fact that there are wars and terrorism and all sorts of scary people doing scary things all over the world. I am just saying that it comes as no surprise.

Every time I read the Book of Mormon I see our day being played out before my eyes. The wars are almost identical. The terrorism is exactly the same. The only thing that is different is that the conflict today is on a global scale, whereas in the Book of Mormon the conflict was mostly confined to certain regions.

But the principles are all the same.

And the fact that our day is identical (almost) to the Book of Mormon days makes the conflicts of our day come as no surprise to someone who has studied the Book of Mormon.

I am excited to study the article from the Ensign - How Disciples of Christ Live in Times of War and Violence. I also recommend reading MMM's post. It was excellent. As his posts usually are.

Have the conditions of our time surprised you? Or do you expect them, given the conditions we read about in the Book of Mormon, and knowing that that book was written specifically for our day?

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The Beginning of Better Days {Book Review}

The first thing I thought of when I slid this book out of its envelope was “But it’s so small!” I was a little disappointed – the book that was supposed to contain Joseph Smith’s divine instruction to women was barely over 100 pages. Imagine my further surprise when I flipped through and saw that the first 80 pages or so were actually essays about his sermons by Virginia H. Pearce and Sheri Dew. I guess I just didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into.

However, my excitement at being able to read the minutes from the first Relief Society meetings overpowered my surprise at their brevity, and so I started reading. I was enjoying Sister Pearce’s essay when I thought to myself “I should go read the minutes first.” So I skipped to the back and read the minutes from Joseph Smith’s talks. In my haste to finish the book for this review, I didn’t take the chance to study the minutes in depth, but I plan on keeping this book close by over the next several months to study those minutes. Chances are it will find a permanent home next to my copy of Daughters in My Kingdom.

Our Stake Relief Society presidency has challenged the sisters in our stake to read the entire Daughters in My Kingdom book by the General Relief Society Broadcast in September. I think adding these minutes to my course of study in preparation for that meeting will yield some great spiritual results.

After I finished the minutes themselves I turned back to Sister Pearce’s essay to read what she had to say. I found myself really enjoying her essay. Sister Pearce had done a lot of study of the history of the Church to give some context to the instruction from the prophet Joseph Smith, and I appreciated the background. I always like to know the historical context in which divine instruction is given – I feel like it helps me understand how to apply it to my life. My favorite companions to my scripture study are often the Seminary and Institute manuals for that reason – they give a lot of historical context, but social history and Church history. Sister Pearce’s essay was pretty personal – she mostly talked about the things she learned from the minutes, and what effect they had on her personally. In fact, her essay reminded me a lot of this blog – just an LDS woman trying to figure out her place in this world, her place in the gospel, and her place in God’s eyes, and recording that journey for all the world to see.

Sister Pearce also included several great quotes from modern General Authorities – and a particularly good one from President Eyring.

Sister Sheri Dew’s essay was about twice as long as Sister Pearce’s essay, and a little preachy. I would read one sentence from Sister Dew’s essay that I was a little uncomfortable with, or disagreed with, and then the next sentence I would want to shout “Amen!” or underline. It was a little strange, finding so much I loved among so much that I didn’t quite agree with.

I did appreciate that Sister Dew addressed nearly every concern women in the Church could have – and she addressed them all head on. In response to possible criticism that it took 12 years for Joseph Smith to organize the women “after the pattern of the priesthood” she pointed out that “it took nearly fifty years from the organization of the Church for all the saving ordinances for the dead to be implemented”, referring specifically to the fact that the temple endowment was not performed vicariously until 1877 in the St. George Temple.

It was Sister Dew’s comments about the priesthood that made me a little uncomfortable. While I don’t think she was preaching any false doctrine I was a little taken aback with the finality of a lot of her statements about women not holding the priesthood of God. I liked Virginia Pearce’s observations on the priesthood better than Sister Dew’s, but like I said, she didn’t say anything wrong. She just seemed to be narrow in her interpretation. But I guess it is a fair juxtaposition to Sister Pearce’s essay. More perspectives are better than fewer.

My favorite part about Sister Dew’s essay was how she referenced several scripture passages that she had studied, without really telling us everything she learned from those passages – which I took as an invitation to study those passages myself, something I plan on doing in the near future. She lists several sections in the Doctrine and Covenants that she studied to learn more about the priesthood, and included other lists of sections which she studied to understand the temple. Both of these are areas where I have room to understand more (don’t we all?) and so I plan on following her example and studying the sections she listed in her essay.

After I finished reading The Beginning of Better Days, I went online to the Joseph Smith Papers project and looked up the Relief Society minute book. The book in its entirety online is 153 pages. Obviously not all of that is instruction from the Prophet Joseph Smith, but I imagine there is a lot of gold in the minute book, and I plan to find all of it.

I am glad to have the words of Joseph Smith extracted from the minutes in this book, The Beginning of Better Days and I plan on studying his words in depth, along with the essays from Sister Pearce and Sister Dew. I can’t believe that these instructions have been here all along (I’m pretty sure the minutes have been available since the 1980s) and I am just barely learning about them. And I always enjoy reading other people’s insights about the gospel – it’s why I read blogs, after all!

This book is something I have been looking for – people talking specifically about women in the Church, doctrines in the Church about women, and teachings of the prophets specifically about women. I have been devouring any book, talk, article, or other resource I can find that addresses women and the gospel – specifically women’s roles, and the priesthood as it relates to women. This book does a lot of what I was hoping for – including address (albeit it briefly) a lot of those “hard” topics. I thought Sheri Dew did a pretty good job of taking those topics head on, even if I didn’t always like how she said things. But more perspectives are always better than a few (or none). Reading this book felt like I was lapping up drops of water falling off a leaf in the rain forest.

In a recent trip to Deseret Book I scoured the shelves, looking for something, anything that could help me better understand what it means to be a woman. The closest thing I found was a small pamphlet about Eve by Camille Fronk. The pamphlet was nice, but what I was looking for was this book, The Beginning of Better Days.

I was just a few months early, but I am glad I found those drops of fresh water.

What I am really looking for is a fresh spring, but parched as I am, I’ll take the drops of water from the rain forest leaves any day.

The Beginning of Better Days was released on August 2, 2012 and is available for purchase through Deseret Book.

{Disclaimer: I was provided an advanced reader’s edition of the book The Beginning of Better Days by Deseret Book for review purposes. This review is my own honest opinions about the book and my opinions are in no way affected by the company providing the book.}

Some Time Each Day

Several months ago I was listening to one of Sister Julie B. Beck’s Q&As on the Mormon Channel and she said something I have heard her say before, but this time it really hit me.

As a busy mother of small children it’s easy to skip scripture study, or not do it because I feel like if I don’t have a whole hour to devote to some serious study of the gospel I might as well scrap it all. But Sister Beck’s counsel is wise. While it is nice to be able to spend hours on end in gospel study that kind of study isn’t always realistic – especially from mothers of small children who seem to need something at all hours of the day and night.

But “some” is a very loose term, and at different times in our lives “some” time might be simply reading our favorite verse, or a familiar chapter. There may be other seasons where “some” time means we get to read page or two before bed. Even other times in our lives we may have the opportunity for “some” time to mean we get to study a passage, experience, or story from the scriptures in some depth and detail, cross referencing with the footnotes, looking up other resources online or from other materials we may have.

For me, right now, spending “some” time in the scriptures each day is reading my Book of Mormon each night – whether it be one verse or two pages. I have been slacking lately because I have let myself be convinced by the lie that it isn’t worth it unless I can really study what I am reading.

But even one verse of the scriptures can work miracles with our souls. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

What does “some time” each day look like in your life? How has the amount of time you’ve been able to spend in the scriptures changed as you have gone through the seasons of life? How do you make the most of the “some” time you spend in the scriptures each day?

Pride Cometh Before the Fall

I have officially finished the bulk of Isaiah in the Book of Mormon. That means (hopefully) the rest will be an easy(er) read. I love Isaiah, but I hate reading things that I don't fully understand without being able to do the appropriate research to understand what I am reading... Does that make sense?


I just finished reading about Lucifer being cast out of heaven.

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! ... For thou hast said in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God..."

(2 Nephi 24:12-23)

I, too, have wondered how Lucifer, who knew God's plan just as well as Jesus Christ knew the plan, could fall. And the answer comes as this, "Pride."

Lucifer fell because he wanted to be greater than God. He wanted glory and honor that wasn't his to take.

This same sentiment carried over into the tempting of Adam and Eve in the garden. If Lucifer, now Satan, knew the plan of God, he had to have know that God's plan would be ruined if Adam and Eve stayed in the garden. So why did he tempt Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit, which Satan had to know was all part of the plan? Here comes his pride again. Satan must have thought that his banished spirits (the hosts of heaven who were cast out with him) would be able to obtain bodies. His pride wouldn't let him accept defeat. He still wanted a body, and thought he knew better than God.

But God said, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed". (Genesis 3:15)

Satan's biggest mistake has always been pride.

So it is that pride leads to destruction. And I have a feeling that is why our leaders have boldly warned us of pride and entreat us to be humble and submissive.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

(2 Nephi 24:15)

What dangers do you see in pride? Do you think
Lucifer's biggest weakness was pride?

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True to the Faith

The Church published a great little book around the time I was a senior in High School called “True to the Faith: a gospel reference”. It’s a hand little book, purse sized, that I carried around with me a lot as a teenager and young adult, for quick reference to gospel topics. I used it in talks, lessons, and gospel discussions with friends.

I have to admit, however, that I have not read through the entire book. It’s mostly basic information, but the basics really are what matters most. In an attempt to really go “back to the basics” in some parts of my study I am committing myself to reading through this book. I enjoyed the “Gospel Principles” lessons last year in Relief Society for exactly this reason – it took me back to the basics, which really are the most important parts of the gospel.

The First Presidency message in the front of the book says:

This book is designed as a companion to your study of the scriptures and the teachings of latter-day prophets. We encourage you to refer to it as you study and apply gospel principles. Use it as a resource when you prepare talks, teach classes, and answer questions about the Church.

As you learn gospel truths, you will increase in your understanding of Heavenly Father’s eternal plan. With this understanding as a foundation for your life, you will be able to make wise choices, live in harmony with God’s will, and find joy in living. Your testimony will grow stronger. You will remain true to the faith.

We are especially mindful of youth, young single adults, and new converts. We promise you that through regular personal prayer and study of the scriptures and the doctrines of the gospel you will be prepared to withstand evil influences that would deceive you and harm you.

May this book strengthen you in your efforts to draw near to the Savior and follow His example.

If you don’t have a copy of this book you can purchase one at the Church Distribution store, either in a physical store or online (free shipping) for $3.25. Or you can access it on the Church’s website here.

Have you read True to the Faith? Have you used it as a resource? What do you think about it? How do you feel about understanding gospel principles and the basics?

To Understand With Your Heart

Book of Mormon Papers - a series of posts
containing papers I wrote for a
BYU Religion class my freshman year of college.

(Note: I enjoyed re-reading this post because it reminded me that I need to study the words of Isaiah more! It’s interesting how many people talk about how hard it is to understand Isaiah. His words really are plain and precious. The symbolism is sometimes hard to understand, but only if you aren’t familiar with symbols. I had great teachers (both religious teachers and secular teachers) who really helped me to understand symbolism. One of my favorite classes in high school was Art History, and we learned a lot about symbolism in that class.)

In the Book of Mormon, the prophets quote Isaiah several times and often will give their own interpretation of Isaiah’s prophecies.  Nephi is not only no exception, but he alone quoted Isaiah more often than any other writer in the Book of Mormon.  Nephi explained himself several times, often stating how he read Isaiah to “more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer,” (1 Nephi 19:23) or for the “proving unto [his] people that save Christ should come all men must perish.”  The words of Isaiah are often hard to comprehend and can cause frustration instead of enlightenment.  How, then, is one supposed to read the words of Isaiah so that he may believe more fully in Christ?  Isaiah himself states that man must “understand with their hearts” (2 Nephi 16:10) in order to understand and be converted.  After one has begun to understand with his heart, the treasures of Isaiah may be enjoyed and stored up in burning testimony.

In a vision described by Isaiah, he is called to testify and prophesy of Christ.  After overcoming feelings of self doubt, removed by the atonement of Christ, Isaiah offers himself as a witness. (2 Nephi 16:5-8)  However, Isaiah was informed that, although men would hear his words, they would misunderstand and perceive not. (2 Nephi 16:9)  The things of Isaiah are simple and plain truths of the gospel; they are words which, if received in the correct spirit and mind, can enlighten and enlarge the soul.  Man is continuously instructed throughout the scriptures to experiment on the word and plant the words in their heart with faith. (Alma 32)  If one will but follow that counsel, the plain and precious truths contained in Isaiah will begin to change the lives of those they touch.

Isaiah was called as a special witness of Christ.  Words which testify of Christ are important to one’s own understanding of the Redeemer, and there is no better way to come to know the character of Christ than to read of Him through the prophesies and witnesses of those called to testify of Him.  The words of Isaiah may be hard to understand, but if approached in the correct spirit and mind, within Isaiah’s words may be found plain and precious truths that will strengthen and enlarge the testimonies of those who read them.

How do you approach the words of Isaiah?

Pleasing Unto God

My post yesterday was only the first part of a two part story.

I did struggle for a few days with that scripture - 2 Nephi 5:21. In fact, I kept rereading it every night for a few nights thinking that by really paying attention I might come to understand what was going on there. After a few nights I finally gave up, sort of.

I just pressed on.

It didn't get better, in fact it just got worse, talking about the Lamanites being a scourge to the Nephites (of course, that prophesy is fulfilled over and over again in the Book of Mormon).

But then, quite abruptly, the talk about the cursed Lamanites stops, and suddenly Nephi feels it is pertinent to include here that he is making this record by the commandment of God, and that he is trying to write things that are pleasing to Him.




Then Nephi writes, "And if my people are pleased with the things of God they will be pleased with mine engravings which are upon these plates."

And suddenly, that knot left in my stomach by 2 Nephi 5:21 unwound itself, and I felt peace.

Why?

Because I am pleased with the things of God (most of the time). And so, I can be pleased with (or my soul can delight in) that controversial verse in 2 Nephi chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon. Especially after writing out all my thoughts in the previous post (a post which I thought about writing when I first read the verse, but the thoughts weren't complete yet) I now feel comfortable, even happy, with that verse.

God doesn't make bad things happen, but He knows bad things will happen, and He also knows how to protect us from the potentially spiritually damaging side effects of those bad things - but we have to obey Him, and come unto Him, and be saved by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ whom He sent.

What examples can you think of where the Lord has protected good people from the effects of wickedness? What about times when He has allowed wicked men to affect the wicked? How can we protect ourselves (and our families) from the wickedness in the world?


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Race and the Book of Mormon

me and my best friend since childhood

First off, let me say that I know this verse is not talking about African Americans. How do I know this? Because this verse is talking about he descendants of Laman and Lemuel (i.e. Native Americans). So this isn't a post about blacks and the Priesthood or anything like that. This is just one woman's struggle with words in the scriptures and how to understand them. After all, my soul delights in the scriptures, and I would like to be able to delight in all the scriptures, not just the "comfortable" ones.





The part that bothered me was not the fact that the people had been cursed with a "skin of blackness" (and who really knows what that means anyway? If you know any Native Americans you know that they are not really "black", but this post is not about discussing varying shades of skin color, either). Rather, the part that bothered me (bothered - that is, made me stop uncomfortably and think) was the Lord's reasoning, "that they might not be enticing unto my people."

Was God just using human weakness (racism, specifically) to curse Laman and Lemuel and their descendants? Perhaps in the same way the Lord allowed the Lamanites to subject the Nephites to slavery when they (the Nephites) were being wicked. I am sure that God is not racist, but I am sure that He knew that human beings would be racist.

I had to think, also, of those Lamanites who converted and joined themselves with the Nephites (I am sure there were some, even before the mass conversions due to the efforts of Ammon and his brethren). Surely those Nephites who married and had children with converted Lamanites were not sinning or going against what God wanted to happen. But can't you see those interracial couples being judged by other Nephites? I imagine it was a lot like the racism prevalent in the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - oh, we love you because you are a child of God, but we shouldn't marry you because you are cursed. Sorry. This is not the racism of the world "You aren't worth as much as me." but I think in some ways it was even more convoluted thinking than that of the world.

But, I digress. This is not really a post about the racial climate of the Church today, but rather about a more basic, fundamental question.

This question - are human beings "naturally" racist?

That is - does racism stem from nurture (being taught to be racist) or from nature (perhaps some part of our biological makeup causes us to seek out a mate that resembles us?)? Obviously racism is wrong - but is it wrong because it is part of the "natural man" - like anger? Or is it wrong because it is a "false tradition" that is handed down from our fathers? Or perhaps a combination of the two?

What do you think?

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Anger Can Lead to Sin

Recently my husband and I have been discussing anger. Anger is a secondary emotion. That is, anger is not an emotion we usually feel just because we are "angry". Think about the last time you were angry. Why were you angry? Did someone do something that hurt you? Were you embarrassed? Were you afraid of something?

Think of a father who is angry with his son or daughter for breaking curfew. There are a few "primary" emotions he might be feeling. One is fear - he is afraid of what might happen to his child if he or she stays out past curfew.
Another is hurt - he may be hurt that his child disobeyed the house rules. This hurt can be a prideful hurt ("I'm the dad, I make the rules and you are going to follow them!") or it can be a humble hurt ("I know the spiritual consequences of disobedience and I thought she knew them, too.")




In 2 Nephi 5:2, Nephi explains that the anger his brothers felt "did increase against me, insomuch that they did seek to take away my life."

We have to be careful how we deal with our emotions. Anger is almost never the right method of dealing with our emotions. Laman and Lemuel were likely hurt because their brother was more righteous than they were and therefore had more authority than they did. But rather than dealing with their hurt feelings (which were actually caused by pride, rather than by genuine concern for Nephi) constructively, they allowed anger to grow in their hearts until they wanted to kill Nephi.

Now, I am not saying that letting yourself get angry is going to lead you to commit murder, but how many times have you let your anger with your children lead you to yelling or spanking or "unrighteous dominion"? (I only ask because I am very guilty of this)

Also, how often do you see a child get angry and hit or bite or yell or push, etc? I am not saying these children are sinning, because children are innocent until the age of accountability, however, chances are that child is not really angry. The child is most likely hurt, or confused, or hungry, or tired, or afraid. Little children don't always understand how to deal with those emotions; and so they become "angry". It is our job as their parents to teach them how to deal with hard emotions.

And we all know the best teaching tool is our own example.

How do you effectively deal with your primary emotions? Has anger ever led you to sin? What primary emotion most often leads to anger for you?

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Sunday Study Link-up

Welcome to Sunday Study Link-up again! It’s been a crazy week, and I am really excited for the Sabbath so I can recharge. And tomorrow is Fast Sunday in my ward, due to General Conference so I am doubly excited. I really enjoy Fast Sunday, and not just because I usually get to watch V bear his testimony (and here) – which is always moving – I just really enjoy the extra spirit on Fast Sunday.

I have been listening to the Teaching, No Greater Call podcast on the Mormon Channel. Yesterday one of the hosts mentioned that he met a woman in Costa Rica who read the Teaching, No Greater Call manual every day. Every day! She read out of the Book of Mormon and then would read out of the manual. Every single day. She explained why and talked about how she wanted to be a better teacher – both at Church and in her home.

Since we are all teachers, and since I specifically have a teacher calling in my ward, I thought I will start studying the manual more. I think I will follow this good sister’s example and read from the manual after my nightly page-and-a-half from the Book of Mormon.

What are you studying this week?

Link up below – either put a link to an article that you are going to be reading this week, or a gospel-related article you really liked, or something you wrote about a gospel topic that you studied. Feel free to add the button below to your post! For more info check out the Sunday Study page.

<a href="http://delightinscripture.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Study" target="_blank" title="My Soul Delighteth"> <img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Yq_gqB3eQqU/T0CFRH6GPpI/AAAAAAAASnY/zkBi5JRAToA/s128/newbutton.jpg" alt="My Soul Delighteth - Sunday Study Link Up" /></a>

Receive the Word

Book of  Mormon Papers - a series of posts
containing papers I wrote for a
BYU Religion class my freshman year of college.

(Note: This isn’t one of my finer papers, but I do love how Nephi had almost all the same revelations that Isaiah had. Nephi knew the words of Isaiah were true because he had the same revelations himself! I love the words of Isaiah and I would love to study them more in depth some time. This year – the character of Christ. Next year – standard works in a year. The next year – words of Isaiah.)

After Nephi read to his brothers from the book of Isaiah, he then proceeded to testify to his brothers about the truthfulness of the words of Isaiah. Nephi received his testimony of those words by way of his vision in which he was shown prophesies that Isaiah talked about. If Nephi was going to tell his brothers about his own personal prophesies why did he wait until after he had read the words of Isaiah to testify to his brothers about his own revelations? Why did he think that the words of Isaiah would be more convincing to his brothers? Nephi used the testimony of Isaiah to back up his own visions and prophecies; however, his brothers were not spiritually prepared to receive Isaiah. If they were so unprepared to understand Isaiah’s teachings, it would have been that much more difficult for them to understand Nephi’s vision.

Nephi read from Isaiah because, as he stated, his purpose was to “persuade [his people] that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer.” (1 Nephi 19:18) Nephi knew the value of the words of Isaiah because he had his father’s testimony compounded with his own personal revelation of the scattering of Israel and the Messiah’s coming. Nephi tried to explain to his brothers how they could receive a testimony of the things that they had read from Isaiah and tried further to explain why he himself had such a testimony of the words of Isaiah when he bore witness that “by the Spirit are all things made known unto the prophets.” (1 Nephi 22:2) Laman and Lemuel demonstrated that they knew what the words were supposed to mean as they asked, “Are they to be understood according to things which are spiritual?” (1 Nephi 22:1) Although Laman and Lemuel understood that the writings of Isaiah were of a spiritual matter, they did not have the desire to know the truthfulness of the things that were read to them. They were not spiritually prepared for the testimony of Isaiah and, furthermore, not prepared for the subsequent testimony of Nephi.

Nephi’s own personal testimony must have been strengthened by reading the words of Isaiah. The personal revelation Nephi received was confirmed by the things that he knew of his Redeemer through his study of the words of Isaiah. Although Laman and Lemuel did not understand the teachings of Isaiah they at least understood the spiritual significance of those teachings and therefore were more prepared to understand the spiritual significance of their brother’s testimony, which testimony presented “more than one witness,” (Alma 10:12) strengthening both the testimonies of Isaiah and the testimony of Nephi.

Have you ever shared the scriptures to help give your own testimony more power? How do you understand the words of Isaiah?

Sunday Study–Scriptures

Welcome to the Sunday Study link up! This week, I was inspired by a post by Jocelyn at We Talk of Christ, We rejoice in Christ about reading your scriptures. There’s just something about studying the paper scriptures that I don’t think will ever be replaced by technology.

With that in mind, my study this week will focus on the words and life of the Savior. I had made a goal to read about the life and words of Christ by April General Conference, but that might not happen. But I think I will make my best effort!

My study on Sunday will be focused on:

The Four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

The Savior’s Visit to the Americas – 3 Nephi 11-26

What are you studying tomorrow? Do you have some good reads you want to share? Link up below!

I Have not Required it, But the Lord

When Lehi told Nephi and his brothers to go and get the brass plates from Jerusalem, he said





(1 Nephi 3:5)

Lehi told Nephi that it wasn't a commandment from him (Lehi), but rather a commandment from God.

This prompted me to ask the question, "How can I make sure that my children understand that the commandments are from God rather from us as their parents?"

I imagine that principle can easily be missed by children and their parents when parents seek to limit their children's agency, rather than teaching them the gospel.

I am reminded of my favorite scripture to read to my kids - Mosiah 4:14-15

"And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit... He being an enemy to all righteousness.
But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another."



(my 4 year old almost has that scripture memorized... I really like reading it to them...)

Maybe this scripture holds some of the answer to that question.

How do you teach your children that the laws of God are truly God's laws, and not "mom and dad's" laws? How do you help them understand that what you are teaching them is not what you require of them, but rather, what God requires of them?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday Study Link-up

Welcome to the first edition of my Sunday Reads Link-up! I am very excited about this (mostly because it will give me a place to stick talks that I want to remember to study on Sunday but also because you get to participate!).

Here’s how this is going to work. Each Saturday, I am going to post a few links to some of the talks/articles/blog posts/scriptures that I read/found that week that I either read and want to share, or were shared with me and I want to read. Does that even make sense? I think you’ll get the hang of it.

And I want you to share, too. I want you to link up talks/articles/posts/scriptures that you think would be appropriate Sunday reading material. Since I kind of have a thing with keeping the Sabbath day holy, I like to be armed with lots of good study material, so I don’t waste precious Sabbath study time (i.e., the kids’ nap time).

I haven’t really come up with a theme for this week, but some weeks I might have a theme. On “themed” weeks you don’t have to link to a talk/article/post/scripture that goes along with the theme. Anything will do.

I have a folder on my Bookmarks bar that says “Good Reads” and I bookmark things that I want to go back later and read, but I usually forget to do that. So this link-up party is more for me, I guess.

Without further ado, here are my Sunday Reads:

Teaching the Doctrine of the Family – Sister Julie B. Beck, Relief Society General President

Baptismal Talk on the Holy Ghost – Scriptorium Blogorium

The Remnant in the Book of Mormon – Feast upon the Word Blog

3 Nephi 20-21

What are you going to be studying this Sunday? Link up here!

What should you link up?
1.) scriptures – link to the specific scripture at scriptures.lds.org
2.) talks/articles from Church magazines
3.) anything you can find searching on lds.org
4.) gospel related blog posts (try stuff from Women in the Scriptures, Diapers and Divinity, Scriptorium Blogorium, We Talk of Christ We Rejoice in Christ – there are lots of great blogs out there, just make sure the posts are gospel related)
5.) BYU/BYU-I/BYU-H devotional addresses, or Women’s Conference talks, or notes about talks from General Authorities
6.) anything else gospel related/Sunday appropriate reading material

I look forward to reading things you share!

Reading Again and Again

If you missed my post yesterday – I finished the Book of Mormon on January 31st at 11:30pm! I made my goal of finishing by the end of January (although my goal changed a few times along the way).

As I was reading about the destruction in Ether and Moroni, I started getting really excited to start at the beginning again. I already had a brand new economy copy of the Book of Mormon ready for service! Doesn’t it just look like it is ready to be devoured?

I did the calculations, and including the title page, witness pages, and Joseph Smith history pages, I need to read approximately 1.6 pages of the Book of Mormon every day in order to finish by the end of the year. I decided that I am going to round up to two pages, that way if I miss a few days, or if I can only read one page, or half a page, some days, I’ll be fine.

My desire to read the Book of Mormon each year stems from a desire to be like Elder Richard G. Scott’s wife. In October General Conference, Elder Scott said this about his wife:

“For I don’t know how many years, as the end of the year approached, I would see [my wife] sitting quietly, carefully finishing the entire Book of Mormon yet another time before year’s end.”

I want to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover every year. I can’t remember where I read it (probably on the Book of Mormon Forum blog hop last year) (edit 2-3-12: turns out that was Cocoa from Chocolate on My Cranium! Thanks, Cocoa!), that someone mentioned keeping a scripture journal each time she read the Book of Mormon, and that she wanted to give one of the journals to each of her kids. Instead of keeping a separate journal, I use an economy copy of the Book of Mormon each time I read it, and I just use a regular old ball-point pen and underline, box, and circle words, draw, and write notes in the margins of the pages. By the time I am finished with the economy copy of the Book of Mormon, it is my scripture journal. But I loved this sister’s idea to give a copy to each of her kids. I think I will do this with my economy copies of the Book of Mormon. Since I will have a copy of the Book of Mormon for each year, I think I’ll have plenty of copies to share with my children.

As I write my thoughts and insights and questions in the margins of the pages, I think about this scripture:

“And upon these I write the things of my soul… for my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and profit of my children. Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.”  (2 Nephi 4:14-16)

As I write my thoughts and feelings and questions in the Book of Mormon margins, I feel like I am writing my own scriptures for my children. And I hope that I can teach them to love the Book of Mormon as much as I do.

How do you study the Book of Mormon? How do you motivate yourself to read it over and over again? Do you read the Book of Mormon every year? How many times have you read the Book of Mormon cover to cover?

A Lion Among the Beasts

As you may know, I tried to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of 2011 and it didn’t happen, and so now I am trying to finish it by the end of the week. (as of Wednesday I have about 80 pages to go!)

My husband told me that I will probably have to do a less thorough reading to get through it in that time, but I was sure I would be able to get through it quickly while still studying and gleaning.

Then I hit 3 Nephi 20. You think 2 Nephi is hard, try reading 3 Nephi 20. I kept reading, even though I didn’t really understand what the Savior was talking about, and about a page and a half into chapter 20 I decided that I really needed to understand what was going on here.

I went back to verse 10, when the Savior starts talking about the remnant of Israel. I read it over and over again and I still couldn’t figure it out. I was a little unnerved that I couldn’t understand this passage, and so I finally prayed for Heavenly Father to open my mind and my hearts (“and their hearts were open and they did understand in their hearts the words which [Christ] prayed” – 3 Nephi 19:33).

And then I went back and read it again.

“Behold now I finish the commandment which the Father hath commanded me concerning this people, who are a remnant of the house of Israel.”

Great. I’ve got this – the Nephites are a remnant of the house of Israel, and Christ had to come to the Nephites, because that was part of God’s plan. That’s all stuff I knew from seminary.

“Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled – behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them – And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel.”

I had to stop here for a second and ask myself, “What words of Isaiah is the Savior talking about? Obviously not all of them, since there are some words that haven’t been fulfilled yet. And what covenant is He talking about?” The covenant God made with Israel was that Christ would come to them, and that He would gather His people. Also, that when Christ would come, the Mosaic law (which was part of the original covenant with Israel) would be fulfilled.

“And then shall the remnants, which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them.”

The first line of this verse caught me off guard for a minute - “the remnants, which shall be scattered” – but I thought the House of Israel had already been scattered? And then I realized that he was talking about scattering the remnants of the House of Israel – the Nephites/Lamanites. We can see the “scattering” of the Nephites and Lamanites all over the American continents today.

Then the Savior must be talking about more of the words of Isaiah than just the Messianic prophecies. And the covenant He is talking about here must be the covenant to gather Israel.

Much clearer now (Note to self: praying before reading complex scripture passages is a great idea)

“And the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you this land, for your inheritance.”

Also a well-known fact – America is the “promised land”.

“And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people –”

Here I am pretty sure the Savior is getting ready to talk about what will happen if the Gentiles don’t accept the gospel after they scatter the Nephites and the Lamanites and are given the promised land – remember, the Gentiles were given America as well to restore the gospel, because of the wickedness and eventual apostasy of the Nephites.

“Then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thy hand shall be lifted up upon thing adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.”

This is where I got stuck again. My first thought was that if the Gentiles reject the gospel, the Lord will allow the remnant of the Lamanites (the native people of the Americas) to destroy the Gentiles. *(see note at bottom of post)

(Image Source: Animal Planet)

Because I don’t like to speculate, I pulled out my old Book of Mormon seminary manual to see if there was anything in there. Nope. Just the “gathering of Israel” part. I even checked out this commentary video on BYUtv about it, but they did the same thing – talked about how important the words of Isaiah are, and about the gathering of Israel.

No one seemed to mention these verses, so I headed to Google (which I only use as a last resort when it comes to gospel study – I don’t like to find a bunch of stuff written by crazy people…)

I came across this blog, Feast Upon the Word, and discovered a series of posts discussing just this topic! The author is … very educated, it seems, and the posts are not for the faint at heart (I had to move to my desktop computer to read them, instead of my phone – it was really that intense – and I had to actually look up a few words he used online. And I consider myself pretty well educated with a decent size vocabulary).

I have a feeling that in order to really understand this part of 3 Nephi I am going to have to dedicate some time to studying Isaiah 52 and Micah 4-5, so I probably will just “skim” through these chapters and pick out what I can for now while I am trying to finish the Book of Mormon.

I am excited to study these passages in more depth, and hope to do so in the next few weeks!

*Turns out this passage is simply talking about the power of the House of Israel during the gathering of Israel to teach the gospel to the Gentiles and purify them. The Gentiles who won’t accept the gospel will be cut off from Heavenly Father.

Have you ever been absolutely stumped by a passage of scripture? Have you prayed to be able to understand the scriptures better? Where do you look for help understanding passages that stump you? Do you have thoughts on these passages in 3 Nephi?

Book of Mormon Papers

Students at Brigham Young University are required to take religion classes. The first religion class you usually take is Religion 121: Book of Mormon. Religion classes at BYU are usually taught by religion professors. My first Book of Mormon class was actually taught by a Mechanical Engineering professor. I was part of what BYU called “Freshman Academy” where you have three or four classes with the same group of students. One of those classes was Religion 121, and since we were all engineering students, an engineering professor taught our Book of Mormon class.

Not to minimize the effect of having dedicated religion professors, but my Book of Mormon class with Brother Jordan Cox was the best religion class I ever had. We basically had one standing assignment in Bro Cox’s class, and that was to read the assigned chapters in the Book of Mormon, and then write a one page paper in which we asked a question and answered it with the words from the reading assignment. He didn’t care how much we wrote, what size font we used, or the size of the margins – it just had to be one page.

The two midterms and the finals were also papers. One on the words of Isaiah, one of the Church of the Lamb of God, and for our final, we were supposed to write about our testimony.

I still have the copies of almost every paper I wrote for that class, and over the next little while I am going to post those papers on this blog. I am really excited to share these papers with you, and I hope you enjoy them.

Since the Book of Mormon is broken into two semesters of classes at BYU, these papers only cover the first half of the Book of Mormon. My goal this year is to continue the Book of Mormon papers that I wrote that Freshman year and write papers for the second half of the Book of Mormon, the same way.

I am really looking forward to it!

How do you study the Book of Mormon? Did you take a Book of Mormon religion class at a Church-sponsored university, or a Book of Mormon institute class?