Book of Mormon Day 11
A. Thought: - "I do not claim distinction as a scholar of the scriptures. For me the reading of our scripture is not the pursuit of scholarship - Rather it is a love affair with the work of the Lord and that of his prophets." (Gordon B. Hinckley, March 10, 1985, Fireside Address)
What if there was a record that shared a common genesis with the Biblical record, yet was maintained and revealed to us from a separate nation apart from Judea? What if another people, or several groups of people had preserved their own witness of the divinity of Christ? What would be its value to the world today? What if there was a volume of scripture, apart from the Bible, that bore witness of the foundational truths contained in the Bible? What if that volume came to us as a result of God calling a Prophet today to once again bear witness that Jesus is the very Eternal God manifesting Himself to all nations - a book that reminds us of the important promises and Covenants made long centuries ago, to a people long dead, which are being fulfilled in our day? Wouldn't that go a long way toward showing that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and that he remembers his covenants to the children of men, and that no matter how long it seems to take to the human mind, He has not forgotten or forsaken his ancient promises? Fair
B. Book of the week: Reexploring the Book of Mormon - John W. Welch, 1992 - FARMS updates.
C. Gary's Green Verses
| Date | Chapter | Verse | Comments |
| March 29 | Mosiah 23 | 14 | We should listen to the wise in the world and judge them according to the Gospel standard & not the other way around. |
| March 30 | Mosiah 24 | 12 | Only God knows the thoughts of our hearts. We should work on them. |
| March 31 | Mosiah 25 | 22-23 | Different wards, same doctrine, one Church. |
| April 1 | Mosiah 26 | 3 | Unbelief keeps us from understanding the word of God. |
| April 2 | Mosiah 27 | 14 | This verse is a great incentive to pray with faith for those I love to come to a knowledge of the truth. |
| April 3 | Mosiah 28 | 3 | Do I have creatures who I don't want to hear about salvation? |
| April 4 | Mosiah 29 | 26-27 | I often wonder how the USA measures up by this measuring stick. |
| April 5 | Alma 1 | 27 | We can impart more to the poor if we don't wear costly apparel. |
D. 20 things I loved from General Conference:
1. Elder Anderson's talk: Haitian family miracle and What Does Christ think of Me?
2. Larry Wilson: wise parents teach their children to get along without them. "That felt awful. I never want to feel that way again" (After Sunday soccer game)
3. O Vincernt Halek - His Samoan parents fasted every week for their children.
4. M. Russell Ballard - Put everything you do outside the home from the perspective of the home.
5. L. Tom Perry- Much of the goodness of the Book of Mormon is its hanging with the Bible.
6. Ronald Rasband - If you come upon a person who is drowning, you don't have to ask if they need help. The offer, Let me know if I can help" is an offer that doesn't help.
7. Russell M. Nelson - God is the same every day, but we are not. Each day get up and try to improve. He used Mosiah 4:11-14.
8. Dieter Uchtdorf - "Don't judge me because I sin differently that you.
9. Richard G. Scott - Inspiration written down shows God that we treasure His messages.
10. Quentin Cook - Praying with our children may be more important than anything we do with them.
11. David S. Baxter - When we live to ease the burdens of others our own become lighter.
12. Robert Hales - Great message on Sacrament protocol.
13. Henry B. Eyring - Trials seem to make clocks slow down.
14. Dallin H. Oaks - The atonement is at the center of the Plan of Salvation.
15. Paul Koelliker - the man who asked the missionaries to never come back and then changed his mind when he saw how they loved one another.
16. Donald Hallstrom - The Gospel is more important than the Church
17. Cheryl Esplin - The best time to teach is in the context of life.
18. Boyd K. Packer - We learn more from our children than our parents.
19. D. Todd Christofferson - "Not every statement made by a church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine, A statement made by one leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, [and is] not meant to be official or binding for the whole church."
20. Thomas S. Monson - "Now, as we leave this conference, I invoke the blessings of heaven upon each of you," said President Thomas S. Monson, pointing his finger around the vast congregation to make clear he meant everyone. "May you ponder the truths you have heard, and may they help you to become even better than you were when conference began two days ago."
E. Fifteen Things I know and love from Mosiah 1-15. (Note the 3rd person authorship)
1. Mosiah 1:2-3 - Some key points on the importance of prioritizing the education of our children.
2. Mosiah 1 - Some advantages for studying the scriptures 1) Avoid ignorance (vs. 3), 2) Remember all that the Lord wants us to know (vs. 4), 3) Fulfill commandments (vs. 4) 4) Understand the mysteries of God (vs. 5), 5) Keep the commandments always before us. (vs. 5), 6) Avoid unbelief & strengthen faith (vs. 5) 7) Identify incorrect traditions (vs. 5) 8) Know the truth (vs. 6)
3. Mosiah 2:8 -The acoustics of a valley in Cuzco, Peru.
4. Mosiah 2: 11-21 - In these 11 verses the words serve and service appear 13 times- "When we understand why we serve we will not worry about where we serve." (HWHunter, BYU Devotional Sept. 2, 1990) "People serve one another for different reasons. 1) Some serve for hope of earthly reward. (Priestcraft). 2)Another reason for service is that which is motivated by a desire to obtain good companionship. 3) Some serve out of fear of punishment. 4) Other persons serve out of a sense of duty or out of loyalty to family friends or traditions. I would call such persons good soldiers. They instinctively do what they are asked, without question. Such persons do much good. Service of this character is worthy of praise and will surely qualify for blessings, especially if it is done willingly and joyfully. 5) One higher reason for service is the hope of an eternal reward. This hope is one of our most powerful motivations. The above 5 motives for service have a common deficiency. In varying degrees each focuses on the actor's personal advantage, either on earth or in the judgment to follow. Each is self-centered. There is something deficient about any service that is conscious of self. A few months after my calling to the Council of the Twelve, I expressed my feelings of inadequacy to one of the senior members of the my quorum. He responded with this mild reproof and challenging insight: I suppose your feelings are understandable. But you should work for a condition where you will not be preoccupied with yourself and your own feelings and can give your entire concern to others, to the work of the Lord in all the world. Those who seek to follow the Savior's example must lose themselves in their service to others. 6) If our service is to be most efficacious, it must be unconcerned with self and heedless of personal advantage. It must be accomplished for the love of God and the love of his children. In order to stand blameless before God at the last day, we must also serve him with all our heart and mind." (Dallin H. Oaks, (Pure in Heart, p. 38-49) "Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the Celestial Kingdom. Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the Celestial Kingdom is made." (MGRomney, Ensign, Nov. 1982, p. 93)
5. Mosiah 2:32-33 - President Uchtdorf
6. Mosiah 2:34 - "I went before the Lord and in essence said, I'm not neutral, and You can do with me what You want. If You need my vote, it's there. I don't care what You do with me, and you don't have to take anything from me because I give it to You-everything, all I own, all I am." (BKPacker, "That All May Be Edified, p. 272)
7. Mosiah 3 - "An angel from heaven recited to King Benjamin what well may be the greatest sermon ever delivered on the atonement of Christ the Lord" (BRM, "Promised Messiah" p. 232)
8. Mosiah 3:3 - Glad tidings of great joy; Luke 2:10-11; 1 Nephi 13:37; Alma 13:22; Helaman 16:14, see also footnote.
9. Mosiah 3:4 - A pattern (D&C 52:14); The Lord hears prayers; judges our righteousness; then sends messengers to make us happy.
10. Mosiah 3:5 - power, the Lord Omnipotent -see 4:9-11 and "If it were not for the idea existing in the minds of men that God had all knowledge it would be impossible for them to exercise faith in Him." (Lectures on Faith p. 43)
11. Mosiah 3:19 - Later, in Gethsemane, the suffering Jesus began to be “sore amazed” (Mark 14:33), or, in the Greek, “awestruck” and “astonished.” Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and other worlds, “astonished”! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but not experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting process of an atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its fullness, it was so much, much worse than even He with his unique intellect had ever imagined! No wonder an angel appeared to strengthen him! (See Luke 22:43.) The cumulative weight of all mortal sins—past, present, and future—pressed upon that perfect, sinless, and sensitive Soul! All our infirmities and sicknesses were somehow, too, a part of the awful arithmetic of the Atonement. (See Alma 7:11–12; Isa. 53:3–5; Matt. 8:17.) The anguished Jesus not only pled with the Father that the hour and cup might pass from Him, but with this relevant citation. “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me.” (Mark 14:35–36.) Had not Jesus, as Jehovah, said to Abraham, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:14.) Had not His angel told a perplexed Mary, “For with God nothing shall be impossible”? (Luke 1:37; see also Matt. 19:28; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27.) Jesus’ request was not theater! In this extremity, did He, perchance, hope for a rescuing ram in the thicket? I do not know. His suffering—as it were, enormity multiplied by infinity—evoked His later soul-cry on the cross, and it was a cry of forsakenness. (See Matt. 27:46.) Even so, Jesus maintained this sublime submissiveness, as He had in Gethsemane: “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:39.) While bearing our sins, our infirmities, our sicknesses, and bringing to pass the Atonement (see Alma 7:11–12), Jesus became the perfect Shepherd, making these lines of Paul’s especially relevant and reassuring: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35.) Indeed, we are in His hands, and what hallowed hands! The wondrous and glorious Atonement was the central act in all of human history. It was the hinge on which all else that finally matters turned. But it turned upon Jesus’ spiritual submissiveness! May we now, in our time and turn, be “willing to submit” (Mosiah 3:19), I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen! (NAMaxwell, Willing to Submit, Ensign, May 1985)
12. Mosiah 4:27- "Most men do not set priorities to guide them in allocating their time, and most men forget that the first priority should be to maintain their own spiritual and physical strength. Then comes their family, then the church, and then their professions-all need time. (Teachings of Harold B. Lee p. 615)
13. Mosiah 4:30 The Ways of Remembrance Louis Midgley - Careful attention to one particular word used in the Book of Mormon yields some surprising dividends. For example, Lehi pled with his sons to remember his words: "My sons, I would that ye would remember; yea, I would that ye would hearken unto my words" (2 Nephi 1:12; Such language may go unnoticed, or it may seem to be merely a request to recall some teachings. The word remember seems rather plain and straightforward. But when looked at more closely, the language about remembrance in the Book of Mormon turns out to be rich and complex, conveying important, hidden meaning. The Book of Mormon uses terms related to remembering and forgetting well over two hundred times. The ideas intended with these words must be significant. By looking carefully at what the Book of Mormon says about "the ways of remembrance" (1 Nephi 2:24), we can better understand the book's overall message.
2 Nephi 5:25-to stir them up in remembrance of me; Mosiah 6:3-appointed priests t to stir them up in remembrance of the oath they had made". Mosiah 1:17 -they were smitten with famine and sore afflictions, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty"
The first thing to note is that "ways of remembrance" does not mean simply inner reflections, or merely awareness of or curiosity about the past, or even detailed information to be recalled. True, in a number of places the idea of remembrance in the Book of Mormon seems to carry the meaning of recalling information about the past (see, for example, Ether 4:16; Alma 33:3). More commonly, however, remembrance refers to action. This action springs from realizing the meaning of past events. Thus, in the Book of Mormon, remembrance results in action.
Alma 29:10-12; Alma 36:2, 29
From the perspective of the Nephites, remembrance included active participation in some form. For them, it meant recalling not simply with the mind but also with the heart. Remembering God and thereby prospering so as to be lifted up at the last day (3 Nephi 15:1 and Alma 38:5) are contrasted with forgetting and then perishing, or being cut off from God's presence (Alma 37:13 and 42:11).
Helaman 5:5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14
On the other hand, when people forget, they "do harden their hearts, . . . and do trample under their feet the Holy One" (Helaman 12:2). 3 Nephi 2:1-2; Helaman 13:22; Helaman 11:36; 2 Nephi 1:17.
The Book of Mormon links remembrance with covenants. Remembering is to keep the terms of the covenant between God and his people. Mosiah 13:29-30
Like the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Mormon uses the expressions keep and remember interchangeably. Dt. 5:12; Ex. 20:8; Jarom 1:5 and Mosiah 18:23, Mosiah 13:16-19, 1 Nephi 15:25. The point is that one remembers by actually doing something, not by merely recalling the past out of curiosity or for any other reason than to serve God.
For this reason the Israelite festivals and "performances" were observed, in order to remember and to "keep the commandments." (This expression occurs eighty-five times in the Book of Mormon, often in connection with remembrance, as in Alma 36:1 and 30.) From the perspective of the Book of Mormon, one does not act only in order to remember. The two ideas are connected in both directions: a person remembers in the deepest sense only by acting in conformity with the will of God, and the action then stirs remembrance, as Abinadi indicated.
2 Nephi 9:39; 10:22-23 Memory and covenants are thus constantly linked in the Book of Mormon. 1 Nephi 14:8; compare, for example, 17:40; 19:15; 2 Nephi 3:5, 21; 29:1-2, 5, 14;Mosiah 1:5-7; 2:40-41.
Alma 1:24; 10:30; Mosiah 5:11-12 - The Book of Mormon emphasizes the need to have records (such as the plates of brass) and to preserve them. In this we may see the kind of connection found in the Hebrew (and Arabic) language between the verb meaning "to remember" and the noun form of that verb which means "record." There is a "book of remembrance" mentioned in the Book of Mormon (see 3 Nephi 24:16), as well as a "book of life" that records the names of the righteous (see Alma 5:58; 3 Nephi 27:26).
Alma 37:8 - The sacred records translated as the Book of Mormon provide us with direction from prophets who warn us to preserve and enlarge our own memory of God's mighty deeds and with the terms of the covenant that make us the people of God. These records teach us that we must neither forget what God has done nor what we have covenanted to do. The result of forgetting is to begin following some unholy tradition into darkness and sin. Instead, we must "always remember him, and keep his commandments" (Moroni 4:3; 5:2) and be willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, for to forget the sacrifice offered by our Lord for our sins by not keeping the commandments is to offend God.
14. Mosiah 5:9 & 12 - Take Sacrament with Right Hand?
by Joseph Fielding Smith (Answers to Gospel Questions 1:154-158)
Question: "We have been taught in the Church that we should partake of the sacrament with the right hand. Why is this necessary? In our discussions we do not seem to be able to find anything telling us why this is so. Why is it wrong to partake of the sacrament with the left hand?"
Answer: Questions of this nature are occasionally received. In one case we are informed that some brethren were advocating the partaking of the sacrament with either hand. Moreover, in one stake it was the custom to confirm and ordain persons by the officiators standing in a circle, raising their right hands, and placing their left hands on the heads of candidates to be blessed and ordained. Therefore, it is expedient that something be said about the use of the right hand in performing ordinations and partaking of the sacrament.
The performing of ordinances with the right hand in preference to the left is a well-established custom universally and is not confined to the Church. In various governments where oaths are administered, the candidate for office is asked to raise his right hand. There are occasions when he is sworn to give truthful testimony by placing his right hand on a copy of the Bible. This custom has come down from the beginning, and from many scriptural passages we gather that it has always received divine sanction. Genesis 24:2, 48:13-19) (Exodus 15:6;29:20-21) (Isaiah 41:10, 18; 48:12-13)(Psalm 110:1; Matthew 22:44) (Matthew 25:31-46; 26:63-64) (Acts 7:55)
The right hand or side is called the dexter and the left the sinister. Dexter connotes something favorable; sinister, something unfavorable or unfortunate. It is a well-established practice in the Church to partake of the sacrament with the right hand and also to anoint with the right hand, according to the custom which the scriptures indicate is, and always was, approved by divine injunction.
15. Mosiah 6:7 - "It is the means of all accomplishment: it is the opposite of idleness. We are commanded to work. (Gen.3:19). Attempts to obtain our temporal social, emotional, or spiritual well-being by means of a dole violate the divine mandate that we should work for what we receive. Work should be the ruling principle in the lives of our Church membership. (SWKimball CR, Oct. 1977 p. 124)
