Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Book of Mormon Weeks 28, 29, 30


Book of Mormon Weeks 28, 29, 30

We are now less than a month away from the starting of our Fall class. We are scheduled to begin on Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 pm in the Granite Tabernacle. The class is not yet listed on the BYU web site. We are waiting for Stake President authorization, but there should be no problems there. I am really looking forward to being back in the classroom and hope that your schedules will allow you to be there. Some of you may have noticed on the web site that I will be teaching the same class (Alma 3-Moroni 1) on Wednesdays from noon to 1:30 at the Layton East Stake Center. I am thankful for this opportunity. It fits really well with my work (just a few blocks away) and my new temple assignment in the Bountiful Temple. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Sorry about my Summer-slows on these updates. We have had a very active Summer. We got to visit Island Park last week with an old college roommate and his wife. We are only 11 days away from finishing the Book of Mormon on the 239th day of the year. Congratulations to those who are keeping up.

Gary

Thought - The Book of Mormon is one of the most marvelous records ever revealed to the world. Many members of the Church do not seem to realize that when this record was revealed to Joseph Smith he was but a lad in his teens, and that when it was translated and the Church organized he was but twenty-four years of age. Because of family circumstances his privilege to attend school was extremely limited, and it is absolutely beyond comprehension how any youth, by his own initiative and ability, could have produced such a record. In fact, we may defy all the learned men in the world to produce such a work and present it to the world as an authentic document giving the history of an ancient but lost people. Should they attempt it, their effort would be filled with glaring errors and their work could not endure.

No book ever published has passed through the intense criticism and the most bitter opposition of the learned as well as the ignorant, yet it has triumphed over them all. Had it been a work of fiction it would have been forgotten, notwithstanding the divine claims which it contains. The truth has met with severe opposition all through the ages; yet it goes on. The thousands who have come into the Church can testify that the words of Moroni are true. Every man who seeks to know the truth will come to the light if there has been a sincere and prayerful desire to know the truth. It is only natural that a record of this kind, which is true, would have to face the most intense and bitter opposition. (Joseph Fielding Smith, in An Approach to the Book of Mormon by Hugh Nibley, Course of Study for the Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums, 1957, Preface)



Date
Chapter
Verse
Comments
July 27
Mormon 4
12
A key verse in understanding why the Nephites were destroyed.
July 28
Mormon 5
20
A 2 part prophecy. We live and work in part 2.
July 29
Mormon 6
21
Mormon's sad commentary to his unrepentant and soon to be destroyed people. It is also a sober reminder to us.
July 30
Mormon 7
9
Mormon's message to latter-day Israel that the Book of Mormon was given to help us believe the Bible.
July 31
Mormon 8
34-5
My favorite verse in all of scripture. Thank you Moroni!
Aug 1
Mormon 9
1-3
Moroni asks those who do not believe when they will. I love it!
Aug 2
Ether 1
43
God tells the Jaredites about just how wonderful America has & always will be.
Aug 3
Ether 2
11
Another editorial statement from Moroni warning us to listen to his from the dust pleadings.
Aug 4
Ether 3
14
Jesus testifies to the Brother of Jared of His mission.
Aug 4
Ether 3
35
The Brother of Jared saw "History of the World" parts 1-7
Aug 5
Ether 4
7
A conditional promise that we will be able to see the same movie.
Aug 6
Ether 5
6
Moroni gives another challenge to us. He is pleading with us to pay attention.
Aug 7
Ether 6
17
We should teach each other and we each should also be taught from on high.
Aug 8
Ether 7
25
Give prophets the opportunity and they will change lives and nations.
Aug 9
Ether 8
24
I had never noticed how directly Moroni speaks to people of our day.
Aug 10
Ether 9
22
A prophet who saw Jesus almost 2000 years before His birth.
Aug 11
Ether 10
28
A Zion time amongst the Jaredites.
Aug 12
Ether 11
21
The Jaredites find out about the Nephites.
Aug 13
Ether 12
6
No witness until AFTER the trial of our faith.
Aug 13
Ether 12
27
God gives us weakness to ALL and then helps us turn our weakness into strength.
Aug 14
Ether 13
20
A great example of if and then. It seems easy when we see others.
Aug 15
Ether 14
25
Thus we see that Wickedness prepares us for destruction.