Book of Mormon Day 6
Thought - Members of the Church everywhere should know the Book of Mormon better than any other book. Not only should we know what history and faith promoting stories it contains, but we should understand its teachings. If we really did our homework and approached the Book of Mormon doctrinally, we could expose the errors and find the truths to combat many of the current false theories and philosophies of men, including socialism, humanism, organic evolution and others. I have noted within the Church the difference in discernment, in insight, conviction and spirit between those who know and love the Book of Mormon and those who do not. That book is a great sifter. (ET Benson New Era, May 1975, p. 19)
1. Outside Reading - "A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon" First printed in 1976. Written by Daniel Ludlow. A classic and wonderful companion.
2. Gary's Green Verses
Date | Chapter | Vs. | Comments |
Feb. 16 | 2 Nephi 25 | 23 | Grace kicks in after our best efforts. Our best efforts will never be enough without Grace. |
Feb. 17 | 2 Nephi 26 | 24 | The Infinite Atonement explained in 1 verse! |
Feb. 18 | 2 Nephi 27 | 27 | We might fool Santa into thinking we've been nice, but not God. |
Feb. 19 | 2 Nephi 28 | 7-8 | Satan's tactics |
Feb. 20 | 2 Nephi 29 | 8 | How narrow minded to think that all of God's words could be crammed into 1 Book |
Feb. 21 | 2 Nephi 30 | 2 | We are not saved by our Family History charts |
Feb. 22 | 2 Nephi 31 | 20 | What we must do after our baptism |
Feb. 23 | 2 Nephi 32 | 3, 8,9 | Feast on the words of Christ. Who teaches us that we are unworthy to pray |
3. 2 Nephi 28:30 & 2 Nephi 33:10-11 - "and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." See Companion p. 152.
4. 2 Nephi 31 "Let me append to what I'm saying there--something that is needed to give a rounded picture. It's not quite on the subject, but it gives a rounded picture of what's involved. You could take the expressions that I've made and say they're a little severe, or they're harsh or difficult, and hence, it's hard to gain eternal salvation. I'd like to append to them the fact--and this is true gospel verity--that everyone in the Church who is on the straight and narrow path, who is striving and struggling and desiring to do what is right, though is far from perfect in this life; if he passes out of this life while he's on the straight and narrow, he's going to go on to eternal reward in his Father's kingdom. We don't need to get a complex or get a feeling that you have to be perfect to be saved. You don't. There's only been one perfect person, and that's the Lord Jesus, but in order to be saved in the Kingdom of God and in order to pass the test of mortality, what you have to do is get on the straight and narrow path--thus charting a course leading to eternal life--and then, being on that path, pass out of this life in full fellowship. I'm not saying that you don't have to keep the commandments. I'm saying you don't have to be perfect to be saved. If you did, no one would be saved. The way it operates is this you get on the path that's named the "straight and narrow." You do it by entering the gate of repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow path leads from the gate of repentance and baptism, a very great distance, to a reward that's called eternal life. If you're on that path and pressing forward, and you die, you'll never get off the path. There is no such thing as falling off the straight and narrow path in the life to come, and the reason is that this life is the time that is given to men to prepare for eternity. Now is the time and the day of your salvation, so if you're working zealously in this life--though you haven't fully overcome the world and you haven't done all you hoped you might do--you're still going to be saved. You don't have to do what Jacob said, "Go beyond the mark." You don't have to live a life that's truer than true. You don't have to have an excessive zeal that becomes fanatical and becomes unbalancing. What you have to do is stay in the mainstream of the Church and live as upright and decent people live in the Church--keeping the commandments, paying your tithing, serving in the organizations of the Church, loving the Lord, staying on the straight and narrow path. If you're on that path when death comes--because this is the time and the day appointed, this the probationary estate--you'll never fall off from it, and, for all practical purposes, your calling and election is made sure. Now, that isn't the definition of that term, but the end result will be the same." (BRM "The Probationary Test of Mortality" UofU Jan. 10, 1982)
5. 16 things the Book of Mormon teaches about Prayer: "Articles of Prayer"
1) 1 Nephi 1:5; 2 Nephi 33:5; Mosiah 27:4; Enos 19, 11; 3 Nephi 18:23; James 5:16- Our best prayers are in behalf of others.
2) 1 Nephi 1:5; Moroni 7:48; Moroni 7:9 - We need to learn to pray "with all of our hearts." (See Luke 22:42-44)
3) Alma 5:46; 1 Nephi 15:11; Alma 9:20; Moroni 10:4 - Prayer takes desire, faith in Christ (Mosiah 26:3), effort (Alma 34:28), obedience, time and action on our part.
4) 2 Nephi 32:8-9 - One of Satan's tactics is to interrupt our prayers. (JSH 6-20 & Lorenzo Snow) “Some two or three weeks after I was baptized … I began to reflect upon the fact that I had not obtained a knowledge of the truth of the work … , and I began to feel very uneasy. I laid aside my books, left the house, and wandered around through the fields under the oppressive influence of a gloomy, disconsolate spirit, while an indescribable cloud of darkness seemed to envelop me. I had been accustomed, at the close of the day, to retire for secret prayer, to a grove a short distance from my lodgings, but at this time I felt no inclination to do so. The spirit of prayer had departed and the heavens seemed like brass over my head. At length, realizing that the usual time had come for secret prayer, I concluded I would not forego my evening service, and, as a matter of formality, knelt as I was in the habit of doing, and in my accustomed retired place, but not feeling as I was wont to feel.
“I had no sooner opened my lips in an effort to pray, than I heard a sound, just above my head, like the rustling of silken robes, and immediately the Spirit of God descended upon me, completely enveloping my whole person, filling me, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, and O, the joy and happiness I felt! No language can describe the almost instantaneous transition from a dense cloud of mental and spiritual darkness into a refulgence of light and knowledge, as it was at that time imparted to my understanding. I then received a perfect knowledge that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and of the restoration of the holy Priesthood, and the fulness of the Gospel. …
“… That night, as I retired to rest, the same wonderful manifestations were repeated, and continued to be for several successive nights. The sweet remembrance of those glorious experiences, from that time to the present, bring them fresh before me, imparting an inspiring influence which pervades my whole being, and I trust will to the close of my earthly existence.” 3
5) 2 Nephi 32:9; Mosiah 27:4 2 Nephi 4:24 - Our prayers make a difference
6) 3 Nephi 18:21 - Family prayer
7) Ether 2:14 - Failure to pray has consequences
8) 3 Nephi 19:24; 2 Nephi 4:35 - We should pray to know what we should pray for.
9) 2 Nephi 32:4; 1 Nephi 15:3, 8-9 - There are things we will never understand without prayer
10) Ether; 1 Nephi 17:45; Enos 1:10 - God has a multitude of ways to answer our prayers. "Put difficult questions in the back of your mind and go about your livess. Ponder and pray quietly and persistently about them. The answer may not come as a lightning bolt. It may come as a little inspiration here and a little there, line upon line, precept upon precept. (D&C 98:12) Some answers will come from reading the scriptures, some from hearing speakers, And, occasionally, when it is important, some will come by very direct and powerful inspiration. The promptings will be clear and unmistakable. You can learn now, in your youth, to be led by the Holy Ghost. As an Apostle I listen now to the same inspiration, coming from the same source, in the same way, that I listened to as a boy. The signal is much clearer now. (Packer)
11) 3 Nephi 17:15-17 - Prayer is something we will continue to do after we die
12) Helaman 7:11; Mosiah 24:10-12 - Sometimes we prayer out loud, Sometimes silently
13) 1 Nephi 8:12 - We can pray our way out of darkness
14) Enos 1:14 - Our prayers are not always answered immediately.
"And, if they (the saints) will exercise their faith aright, there is no good thing, which they can desire, that will be withheld from them. Because you do not get all your prayers answered and your desires granted immediately, you must not therefore be disheartened. ...Remember, also, that though your prayers may not be answered immediately, if they are offered in the name of Jesus, and in faith, nothing being left undone in the remembrance of the Lord, and yet gear fruit. The ancient fathers asked for blessings in their prayers, which are even now being grated-thousands of years after the death of the mortal bodies...Though heaven and earth pass away, not one word that the Lord has spoken, not one promise that he has made, can pass away or remain unfulfilled. If they have waited thus patiently for the fulfillment of their prayers, cannot we, if necessary, do so also? (George Q. Cannon Millennial Star, 25:74-75)
15) 3 Nephi 13, 17, 18, 19 - The Lord taught much about prayer when he visited the Nephites. "There are many reason our prayers lack power. Sometimes they become routine. Our prayers become hollow when we say similar words in similar ways over and over so often that the words become more of a recitation than a communication. (Withlin) "The trouble with most of our prayers is that we give them as if we were picking up the telephone and ordering groceries-we place our order and hang up. We need to meditate, contemplate, think of what we are praying about and for and then speak to the Lord as one man speaketh to another. (TGBH p. 469)
16) 1 Nephi 18:3 - Special prayers sometimes require special places
17) 3 Nephi 19:9 - Some things are more important to pray for than others.
See BD p. 752-3; "Prayers and Answer" (BKP Ensign, Nov. 1979); "Improving Our Prayers" (Joseph B. Withlin, BYU, Jan. 21, 2003; "Ensign" March, 2004); "Prayer" Deseret Book, 1977; "Receiving Answers To Our Prayers" Gene R. Cook, Deseret Book 1996)
