Heard It All Before

I have posted before about inoculation - the idea of exposing members of the church to all of the possibly critical positions people might hold toward the church, and all of the less - appealing aspects of church history. There has been much discussion about whether or not it should be the church's responsibility to inoculate it's members again such question - raising topics.

On a slightly related note, I was reading in Alma 30 tonight about Korihor and as I read his arguments against God and Christ and the gospel I couldn't help thinking, "These are all of the same anti-religon arguments you hear today!"

And then the thought struck me. This isn't the only place in scripture where debates between believers and doubters is recorded. If we have studied the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, we will be so familiar with this line of doubt and questioning that we will simply be able to wave our hands at those who would tear down our faith and simply say, "Pooh,  pooh - been there, done that, got the tshirt."

The best inoculation we can give our children is probably a love of the gospel and of the Book of Mormon and a deep understanding of those two things rather than a superficial familiarity with them. If we can help our children develop a deep love for and understanding of the Book of Mormon, all the naysayers in the world won't be able to sway our children from their testimony of the true and living gospel.

What real-life events has the Book of Mormon prepared you for? How do you feel the Book of Mormon has strengthened your testimony such that it cannot be shaken and you are not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine?

Gospel Art by Little People

My five year old son is becoming quite the artist. His favorite medium is crayons (I think because of the range of colors). His favorite subject lately has been super heroes (specifically the Avengers). He also enjoys drawing planets and space ships and space wars, etc.

Today during sacrament meeting he blew me out of the water with this excellent depiction of Captain Moroni.


It melted my heart. This kid is a sweetheart. (I won't tell you what song he was humming while he drew this picture in the middle of sacrament meeting... It's a song I am ashamed to say he was exposed to at a friends' house. We've got to be a little more vigilant about keeping our kids safe from questionable movies and music *sigh* it can be so hard sometimes!)

When I picked him up from Primary, he had a new masterpiece to share! Joseph Smith in the sacred grove:


I think his teacher helped him with Joseph kneeling, and I was mildly disappointed that the picture didn't include the First Vision with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but honestly, the fact that my kid is drawing gospel art is just really touching.

Along the lines of the exposure discussion, he wouldn't be drawing pictures of scripture stories and scripture heroes if he hasn't been exposed to them. We try to expose them to gospel art a lot - from the posters on their bedroom walls to using the gospel art book for FHE to visiting the Church History museum and more.

It's always nice to see fruits from your labors.

Do you expose your children to gospel art and pictures of the scripture stories?How do you use gospel art in your daily life with your kids and in your study of the gospel?
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A Little, Young and Tender Branches

As promised – more on Zenos’ Allegory of the olive tree. I wrote last week about a little connection I made between the house of Israel and the lifespan of an olive tree. I promised myself that I would use that connection to make my study of the allegory more meaningful this go around.

My first step was to look up the pertinent chapters to the allegory in the Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine manual, the Institute manual, the seminary manual on the allegory, and then any talks/Ensign articles/etc. Most of them had one thing in common – they started with the part where the master of the vineyard starts grafting in the branches of the wild olive tree.

But I had noticed that the master of the vineyard did not resort to grafting at the very beginning. In fact, in verse 4-6 we discover that the master “pruned it, and digged about it, and nourished it” – and as a result, “after many days it began to put forth somewhat a little, young and tender branches.”

The only place I found a reference to these verses was a fun little graphic in the Institute manual.

So what was the pruning, digging about, and nourishing that the Lord did? And who were the “somewhat a little, young and tender branches” that began to grow? Well, I went back to the timeline of the Old Testament (the seminary bookmark) and checked out what went on before the house of Israel was scattered.

We know that after the time of Moses, the House of Israel started going downhill fast (this was about 900 years or so after the beginning of the House of Israel – or the birth of Jacob). In fact, even Moses had to deal with a lot of issues due to the House of Israel’s hard headedness. From the time of Moses until the scattering of Israel (when Lehi went to America and the rest of the Jews were carried off by the Babylonians) was about 600 years.

Image Credit: Bruce Okkema

The Lord pruned, dug, and nourished the dying house of Israel for nearly 600 years. During that time, several “young and tender” branches came forward. The Old Testament bookmark lists several of those “young and tender” branches – Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, Deborah, Ruth, Solomon, David, Saul, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Amos, Lehi, Isaiah, Jeremiah.

The description of the branches being “young and tender” makes me think of something delicate and easily damaged. Some of these “young and tender branches” were easily damaged. The good kings that were raised up in this time – many from their youth (young and tender branches) – Solomon, David, Saul – they were delicate, and those “young and tender branches” ended up dying off. They didn’t make it.

But there were other branches that, though young, became stronger and were able to be grafted into other tress. For example, Joshua was born in Egypt before the Exodus and was basically raised under Moses and became his successor. Then there is Samuel, who was called by God while he was still a child. We also have Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, who were raised in mostly righteous environments – young and tender branches that grew strong and stayed strong. , who was adopted into the house of , became a very strong branch – in fact, through her branch would eventually come the Savior of the world. And finally Lehi, who was spiritually young, although physically he was old became one of the strongest of the new young and tender branches, through his sons, Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph.

However, even when all of these “young and tender branches” were growing, “the main top thereof began to perish.” During this whole time the the Lord was furiously taking care of the house of Israel, trying to save it, the house of Israel was becoming apostate, regardless of the new branches that were growing.

It was at this time that the master of the vineyard finally decided to cut his losses, burn the dying branches, and begin the process of grafting his young and tender branches into other wild olive trees, hoping to create more tame olive trees that would bring him good fruit.

Image Credit: khraishi.sameer

The gospel doctrine manual points out that “For a wild olive tree to become tame and productive, its main stem must be cut back completely, and a branch from a tame olive tree must be grafted into the stem of the wild one.” The master’s plan was to tame the wild olive trees with the young and tender branches from his beloved, ancient olive tree.

It might seem odd that the master would graft wild branches into the roots of the tame olive tree, but he didn’t want to lose the roots of the old tree. The gospel doctrine manual also points out that “the root of the [olive] tree may go on producing new trees and fruit for thousands of years” through grafting the new shoots that can potentially grow from the roots of the old, dying tree into other wild olive trees (this is probably where the young and tender branches came from originally). Because the master of the vineyard took all the young and tender branches and grafted them into the wild trees around the vineyard, he put some of the wild branches into the old tree to help preserve the roots, probably hoping that the roots would keep sending out new young and tender branches.

This post would not be complete if we didn’t have a little discussion about what this all means. The most significant part of the beginning of the allegory of the olive tree, and a theme that is constant throughout the allegory (and throughout our lives) is the love of Jesus Christ for His people. He experiences grief when His people are lost. “It grieveth me that I should lose this tree” – that sounds like a loving Savior to me. He always does all He can to save us, to protect us, and take care of us. We still have our agency, and as seen by this first part of the allegory, despite everything the Lord is willing to do for us, He cannot save us against our will. But He will definitely do everything in His power to help us.

I also can’t help thinking about the young and tender branches in my own life. I want my children to grow to be strong branches of our family tree, and so I need to treat my family tree the way the Savior treated the olive tree, by pruning and digging and nourishing. Ruth is one of my favorite examples of a strong branch – she was a convert, but her branch became so strong it was through her lineage that the Savior was born. That’s the kind of strength I want in the branches of my family tree.

What doctrinal principles do you see in the allegory of the olive tree?

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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Nephi and the Law of Moses

I have been intrigued recently by the fact that Nephi and his descendants obeyed the law of Moses, even when it is apparent that they understood the fullness of Christ's gospel.

Nephi's understanding of the plan of salvation is impressive, given that he lived six hundred years before the coming of Christ, and he lived in Jerusalem in a time when the Jews did not even understand the Law of Moses.

And, notwithstanding we believe in Christ, we keep the law of Moses, and look forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled. For, for this end was the law given; wherefore the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ because of our faith; yet we keep the law because of the commandments.

It is significant that Nephi said the law of Moses was dead to them because they knew that it was only a type of Christ, a reminder of what was really important.

I believe this is one of the reasons Lehi and his family were led to the promised land. They understood that the law of Moses wasn't the important part of the gospel. The important part was faith in Christ and his atonement and sacrifice.


Nephi understood that the law of Moses would be fulfilled.

Wherefore, we speak concerning the law that our children may know the deadness of the law; and they, by knowing the deadness of the law, may look forward unto that life which is in Christ, and know for what end the law was given. And after the law is fulfilled in Christ, that they need not harden their hearts against him when the law ought to be done away.

Nephi and his brethren took care to teach their children that the law of Moses was only a type of Christ, and a way to be reminded of His coming. It was important to them to teach their children tha the law of Moses is "dead" and that life is found only in and through the Savior, Jesus Christ. They wanted to make sure that when Christ finally came their children would be willing to accept Christ's fulfillment of the law of Moses, rather than harden their hearts toward the Savior, as the Jews in Jerusalem would do when he came.

Why do you think it is significant that Nephi described the law of Moses as being "dead"? Why did they continue living the law of Moses when they knew of the fullness of the gospel?
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The Key to Understanding Isaiah

... because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy.

How do we get the spirit of prophecy? I am sure there are some great conference talks and lesson manuals that talk about it.

I know that there are times when Isaiah makes more sense to me. Those times are probably when I am filled with the spirit of prophecy.

How do you understand Isaiah? How to you invite the spirit of prophecy so that you can understand Isaiah?

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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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Proving the Coming of Christ

I realized that there has been a bit of an intense or deep feeling on the blog lately, and it has been making me a little crazy. I have been thinking of something a little "lighter" to post about - but really, is there any part of the gospel that really is "lite" (yes, that was kind of a snarky comment about the "Mormonism Lite" review - if you don't know what I am talking about, go look it up. But it's not light reading, just consider yourself forewarned).

I am learning the balance between boldly declaring Christ'a gospel and not coming across as condescending. I appreciate those folks who stick around on the blog here and let me practice on them. I have a lot to learn about the gospel and I think I have just as much to learn about sharing it with people.

A few nights ago I started 2 Nephi 11 and I read the phrase "my soul delighteth" a couple of times, so I figured I should definitely write about it.


I especially loved this, "my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ" - perhaps that is one of the main reasons I write on this blog - because my soul delights in that same thing.

Like I said - I am trying to be bold without being overbearing (see Alma 38:12). I am really not good at that (ask my husband! And pretty much anyone who has met me "offline"... yikes. I am pretty bad). Well, we all have strengths and weaknesses, and if the Lord can really turn my weakness in this into a strength (see Ether 12:27) then perhaps some day I will indeed be bold without being overbearing.

Do you delight in proving the truth of Christ to "your people"? Do you struggle to be bold without being overbearing?


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Delight in the Scriptures

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

(Note: So this isn’t one of my best papers, but I was not surprised to find that I chose to write about delighting in the scriptures. Since, you know, that’s kind of my “theme” scripture for my life. I am so grateful for the influence of the scriptures in my life. I want my children to develop the same love for the scriptures that I have developed. I hope I am setting a good example for them – in real life, not just on this blog)

Image credit: LDS Media Library

After Lehi gave his blessings to all of his children, Nephi wrote the “things of his soul” and told of how his people separated themselves from his wicked brethren. In Chapter 4, Nephi recorded the reason for him including many scriptures, especially the writings of Isaiah, in his record. Nephi’s reason is that his soul “delighteth in the scriptures.” Earlier Nephi had stated that on the plates he would write “the things of [his] soul.” From these two statements, one can conclude that Nephi had made the scriptures, even the writings and the words of the prophets, a part of his soul. What does it mean to make the words of God “things of [one’s] soul?” Nephi gave a reasonable outline when he stated that “my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.” In order to make the word of God a thing of one’s soul, one must delight in the scriptures, ponder them, and wish to teach the words to others. (2 Nephi 4:15-16)

Nephi’s delight of the scriptures comes from a more general feeling that his “soul delighteth in the things of the Lord…” As the scriptures come from the Lord, it would follow that Nephi would also delight in them. The dictionary describes delight as “to take great pleasure or joy.” Nephi must have understood the doctrine that men are on this earth to have joy. (2 Nephi 2:25) Nephi also understood what things bring men joy on this earth.

It is obvious from Nephi’s writings that he pondered the scriptures often. Many of his writings quote Isaiah and expound on Isaiah’s writings. The dictionary defines ponder as “To reflect or consider with thoroughness and care.” Surely in all Nephi’s writings and also through his actions which were consistent with the teachings of the prophets, it is made clear that Nephi pondered the words of God in great depth.

Before Nephi quoted the words of Isaiah for the first time, he stated, “that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did … liken all scriptures unto us that it might be for our profit and learning.” (1 Nephi 19:23) Nephi showed great care and concern for his family, and he showed this by teaching them of the words of the Lord. Countless times did Nephi rehearse the scriptures to his brethren, showing them the examples of their fathers and praying that his brothers would do likewise.

Nephi showed that he loved the words of God by delighting in the scriptures, pondering them, and sharing them with his family and others. Because Nephi understood the importance of the scriptures, he was able to internalize them and make them “things of [his] soul.”

Have you made the scriptures a part of your soul? Do you delight in scripture? Do you ponder them? Do you read them, study them, and teach them to your family members and others around you?

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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Teach the Plan

I realized the other day that it has been a while since I posted anything scripture related - and, well, since the title of this blog is "My Soul Delighteth in the scriptures" I thought I should probably write about the scriptures.



I feel like there has been a theme in the things I have been reading and studying and feeling over the past few weeks. It has not been a theme I picked out for myself, but I believe Heavenly Father needs me to learn something about this.

Julie commented on a post the other day saying she had been inspired to "Teach repentance." I have felt a similar prompting. It seems like every thing that I pick up to read or study has this theme - teach the atonement and repentance. I listened to the General Sunday School board testify of the importance of teaching the plan of redemption. I read about it in Teaching, No Greater Call. I was impressed to write a post about teaching our children about repentance and the atonement, and then tonight I sat down to read the Book of Mormon with the intent to find something in the scriptures to post about on this blog and I discovered that the next passage of scripture in my read-through of the Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi 2. If you aren't very familiar with that chapter I would suggest you go read it. It's one of the best sermons on the plan of salvation. Right up there with Alma 32 and Mosiah 4.

In verse 5 Lehi says that "men are instructed sufficiently that they may know good from evil" and then he testifies "how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth." In order to fully exercise our agency, we must be "instructed sufficiently" so that we can know good from evil.

Remember that post I wrote a while ago about the connection between knowledge and agency?

In order to choose eternal life, men must be instructed sufficiently to be able to discern right from wrong, and they must be aware of what the choices are. Freja wrote an excellent post on the same topic on Faithful Freja, and I recommend her post (and her blog).

How to you learn and teach repentance and the plan of salvation? Do you feel more free to choose as you learn about the Father's plan? How does having a knowledge and understanding of the plan of salvation help you properly use your agency?

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Nephi's "can do" Attitude

All my life I have had a "can do" attitude. When I want to do something, I just figure out how to do it, and then I do it. I used to attribute this attitude to my parents - but last night at Family Home Evening, we read the scripture in 1 Nephi 3:7 where Nephi testified that the Lord will provide a way to accomplish the things He wants us to accomplish.


And tonight I read this part in 1 Nephi 17:50-51

If God commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command that I should say into the water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. And now, it the Lord has such great power, and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?

You could easily fill in that last part with any "impossible" task you are facing - "how is it that he cannot help me be a mother", or "teach me how to fulfill my calling" - or whatever we need to do?

I still attribute my can-do attitude to my parents, but it makes me appreciate them even more, because they taught me about Nephi's can-do attitude. That's where it comes from. A "can-do" attitude is a gospel principles.

I like the attitude of "If God wants me to do something, He will make it happen." We don't have to fret about it.

Do you sometimes fret when should just have faith? Do you share Nephi's "can-do" attitude? Do you believe that if God wants you to do something, He will show you the way to do it?


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Scripture KidStories–Abinadi

My almost-five year old, V, loves the Book of Mormon stories. Especially the war stories.

The other day he was playing with his toys and he was narrating his play.

“The Nephites were fighting with the Zoramites, and the Zoramites were fighting with the Lamanites. And the fighting became so dense that many people began to die.” (make sure you imagine a five year old’s best “dramatic” voice for that last line…)

I didn’t even know he knew how to use the word “dense” in a sentence like that…

I was inspired by him using the Book of Mormon stories in his pretend play and decided that I would ask him if he would let me make videos of him telling me scripture stories. He agreed, and thus “Scripture KidStories” was born.

Without further ado, here is the first in hopefully a long series of scripture stories as told by my oldest son.

Scripture KidStories–Abinadi

(you can subscribe to my YouTube page where I will be posting more Scripture KidStories videos as we record them. I’ll try to post them here, too. If you would like to contribute a Scripture KidStories video of your child telling a scripture story, please email me at mysouldelighteth (at) gmail (dot) com)

Do your kids use Book of Mormon stories in their pretend play? Do they know the scripture stories well enough to tell them to you (or others)? How do you teach your children the scripture stories?

A Deadly Combination

I read 1 Nephi 12 tonight - this is Nephi's vision when the angel explains the meaning of the tree of life. This chapter spans the coming of Christ to the American Continent until the apostasy and death of Moroni at the end of the Book of Mormon.


When Nephi observes his seed being destroyed by the seed of his brethren, he comments, "and because of the pride of my seed, and the temptations of the devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did overpower the people of my seed.


I thought, "Now there's a deadly combination." Like drinking and driving or hair dryers in the bath tub, pride coupled with the temptations of Satan are a death wish. And more than just physical death.

Pride and sin create a spiritual death as well. Think of what happened to Lucifer in the pre-existence. He was so prideful that he couldn't accept God's plan for us. He wanted to do things his way, without any pain, and he wanted to take all the credit.

When we let pride enter our hearts, Satan can easily take hold of us. He knows pride so well. It is the thing that kept him from God, and he wants to use it to keep us from returning to our Father. It is a struggle for me each day to keep my heart soft and put away my pride so that I can learn from those around me.

"Pride and temptations of the devil" - how much easier is it to succumb to temptation when our hearts are filled with pride? It is much harder to resist the evil one when our hearts imitate his.

Do you find it harder to resist temptation when your heart is filled with pride? How do you keep from getting puffed up? How do you stay humble and teachable?

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I do not know the meaning of all things

I commented the other day on a post over at That Good Part and I think I mentioned in a previous post how I have felt stagnant in my personal growth - which was easy to live with because my "level of righteousness", so-to-speak, was relatively good. I am far from perfect, but I have meaningful prayers, meaningful scripture study, and I do a pretty good job with my relationships, and loving others. Not perfect.



In fact, I have a long way to go. And that truth about if you're not moving toward the Savior, you're moving away from Him always hits me at this point in my thought process.

I have been trying to be really mindful of the things I don't know, and the many areas of my life that can use improvement.

I echo Nephi, who said, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

I have a sure, strong testimony of the gospel, of Jesus Christ, and His atonement, of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and of God's love for us. But I do not know the meaning of everything. Honestly, I don't know the meaning of a lot of things, really.

One of the areas in my life that needs improvement is faith. Which may sound silly because I have such a strong testimony - but I think that my testimony has been more knowledge than faith.

Alma said, "And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginners to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good. And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant". (Alma 32:33-34)

Because of my great parents and leaders when I was young, I think that my faith has been dormant in a lot of things, and because it has been dormant for so long, I have almost forgotten how to exercise faith!

Along with working this year on learning God's will for me, I think that I need to practice having more faith. Which kind of go hand in hand anyway.

How do you find the things you don't know? What do you do about it when you realize you don't know something? Is your faith dormant in some gospel principles because you have already received a perfect knowledge of that principle?

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Forgetfulness and the Holy Ghost

I just can't get enough of the Book of Mormon. I get sucked in and can't stop reading. I can't stop asking questions while I read, either.


For example, I was reading 1 Nephi 7 and I came across Nephi's little lecture to Laman and Lemuel - "How is it that ye have forgotten that ye have seen and angel of the Lord?" "How is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord has done for us?" "How is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things?"

This is the first time I realized that no one ever really answers those questions in the Book of Mormon. Laman and Lemuel just end up angry with Nephi and they tie him up. (more about that later)

Well, as I was reading, I thought of the scripture John 14:26 which says the Holy Ghost will "bring all things to your remembrance". In context, the Savior was telling his disciples that the Holy Ghost would help them remember the things He had taught them, even after he was gone. In the same way, then, the Holy Ghost can help us remember our blessings. But we will not have that remembrance without the Holy Ghost, and we need to have faith and be living worthy of his companionship.

From observation, we can tell that Laman and Lemuel didn't always have the Holy Ghost with them. They lacked the faith necessary for that gift, and so it was easy for them to forget the blessings and promises of the Lord.

I know that the Spirit has helped me remember my blessings and remember ye promises the Lord has given me. I hope that I can always remember the role the Spirit plays in helping me remember.

Have you ever forgotten blessings and promises you have received from Heavenly Father? Has the Spirit helped you remember those things?


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The Fulness of his Intent

Post have been few and far between this week. I have been catching up in a lot of areas of my life and now I am getting back into posting. At least a little. I still need to do GCBC this week!

I have been reading the Book of Mormon every day, but not my one and a half pages, so I will probably spend some quality time in its pages this weekend.

Have I told you how much I absolutely love the Book of Mormon?

Here's part of why:


I have been learning that every page of this book has a purpose - and that purpose is to draw people to Christ and the Father and to salvation.

Faith in Christ. Repent. Be baptized. Receive the Holy Ghost. Endure to the end.

There is a reason we call them the "first principles and ordinances of the gospel". They are the ones that are plastered on every page of the Book of Mormon.

How are you doing with your Book of Mormon reading? Are you trying to finish by a certain time? What is your favorite message from the Book of Mormon?

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