End of Nephi, beginning of Jacob

So after testifying of Christ, Nephi tells us about the future he has seen.   He starts by telling us that Christ will visit his people after he comes and is resurrected.   And then he fortells of the destruction and doom that awaits his people if they don't hearken to the words of Christ.  Then he pretty much continues the march of doom talking about the devil and all the ways that we can go to hell.   It pretty much says pride will be the downfall in one way or another.  And that not believing that there is a hell is a sure way to end up there.*   And then he fortells of the coming forth of other books of scripture.  Nephi pretty much prophecies about what will happen with the very book that he is writing and how all the people that believe in it will be reviled for believing in it, but that it is ok, because it is the beginning of the gathering in the last days.    Nephi has prophesied all this before, but since these are his dying words, it probably bears repeating.

Then Nephi takes an interesting turn and for his very last message he tells us he is going to quote his younger brother Jacob who he is about to hand over the plates to.  It is like he is cuing everyone on the authority of who will take the reigns.   The words he quotes are about Christ and his baptism and our need to follow that example and "endure to the end".   I wish endure were a nicer word.    A lot of lip service is given to getting on the path, but the enduring part really sucks eggs.  It isn't really given equal time to the amount of time it actually takes up.

* one note about the bom in general.  It tends to have a very black/white heaven/hell bent to it, while the D&C and NT are more "many kingdoms" oriented. Not sure how this fits all that well with 3 kingdoms.

The Book of Mormon is the great standard we are to use in our missionary work. It shows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It contains the words of Christ, and its great mission is to bring us to Christ. All other things are secondary. The golden question of the Book of Mormon is “Do you want to learn more of Christ?”
The Book of Mormon is for both member and nonmember. Combined with the Spirit of the Lord, the Book of Mormon is the greatest tool which God has given us to convert the world. If we are to have the harvest of souls, we must use the instrument which God has designed for the task—the Book of Mormon.

President Ezra Taft Benson

return of the prodigal blogger

What can I say?  Things got busy and I fell off the horse.  I decided to get back on.  Hope y'all come back too!

So, I am starting up again with Nephi 25, which is back to Nephi after he has recorded Jacob and repeated excerpts from Isaiah.   Nephi explains that Isaiah is confusing, particularly to his children because Isaiah prophesied after the manner of the Jews, and he felt that the ancient Jews had become too wicked, so he shielded his "children" (I think this means all those that followed him)  from their ways.   Then he goes on to say that it doesn't matter that they are ignorant of the prophetic traditions because if you have the spirit of prophesy you will understand Isaiah anyway.    While I am sure the intent is to allay fears that Isaiah is beyond us and give us confidence to study his words, I always feel like this a double edged sword and sort of tunnels the access of information.  What if two people who feel like they have the spirit of prophesy decide it means two different things?   And to by honest,  Isaiah is much clearer to me after having studied parts of ancient Judaism and Hebrew.   I honestly don't know if I would get there just by the "spirit of prophesy".   Oh well...

After that Nephi begins to say he will communicate things in plain language about his testimony of Christ, and he does it beautifully.   Although, I have to say, like most learned men, he borrows a phrase or two that could use clarification.    For example, when he is testifying to how Christ would be crucified, lie in a sepulchre for three days, and then resurrect, he borrows the phrase "he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings".    Obviously, our Savior did not resurrect with wings.   The word for wings in Hebrew is the same as the word for hem, and refers to the tassel on the ancient temple clothes.   Hem, tassel, wings all were words used for power, i.e. priesthood.  Also, the word "to heal" also meant to complete, to make whole, or to perfect.     He will resurrect with the power to perfect us with his infinite priesthood power.    (Knowing a little can help a bit)   I do have to say though that while it can use some clarification,  I prefer the poetry of "healing in his wings".   It conjures the image of being held by the Savior, which can be powerful in itself.

Nephi continues to testify that the Jewish people will be scattered and gathered and there will be a day when they will accept Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah.    When I read this passage, the controversy of the church doing baptisms for the dead for those Jews that were victims of the Holocaust always runs through my mind.   I understand the position of those that asked the church to discontinue that practice because of some sort of implication that we were posthumously making them Mormons and desecrating the reasons they were killed.   In their eyes it looks a bit like a white wash of old practices to force christian baptism upon Jews.   I have often wondered if there was a fault in the way we talk about baptisms for the dead in this.   I don't know.   I guess the idea that we are trying to make dead people Mormons sounds ridiculous even to me.    I have often wondered if we shouldn't refrain from using that terminology ourselves.   To me the church is an earthly thing, not a construct for the next life, while the ordinances of the gospel are eternal.    Sorry- tangent. 

Nephi continues by explaining that the story of Moses and the serpent is symbolic of the way we must look to Christ for salvation.    We often use this example of how easy it is, but you know, I don't think we are being fair to those that couldn't look up.    Would you really look up??   While snakes and serpents surrounded you and your children, biting into your feet and legs, and slithering around you,  would you really look up and ignore the pains and cries immediately before you?   I believe that Christ can heal us,  but the idea that it is easy and we feel no pain in the process strikes me as overly simplistic. I mean,  faith is hard, isn't it?  Does anybody out there find faith truly easy??  I mean, I sort of have come to the conclusion that faith is really hard, but I am not sure that the alternative is so much better...

Continuing on, Nephi says that he has been promised that this record (TBOM) will be preserved to continue to give people hope and faith in Christ.  This is one of my favorite parts of the whole Book, when Nephi says "we labor diligently... and look forward with a steadfastness unto Christ... And we are made alive in Christ because of our faith... And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we prophesy of Christ... that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins... that they may look forward unto that life which is in Christ."    It is hopeful, and full of the savior's love, and of love of family and fellowman.  

My father was the son of Lithuanians, but he was born in Scotland. He moved to Brazil when he was still young. His ability to speak English facilitated his conversion since he could read the Book of Mormon in English, and there was not yet a reliable translation into Portuguese. This language barrier prevented my mother from joining the Church until a few years later, but when she did, she became a powerful example of dedication to others and love of God in our family. She is now 92 years old, and she is here today. It gives me great joy to say that I love her for her great faithfulness. I will also honor and bless her name forever.
I admire the courage my father had to be baptized into the Church in spite of the circumstances he faced at the time. It was not easy for him. His wife did not get baptized with him. The vices of drinking alcohol and smoking were strong temptations for him. He was poor. His mother was against his joining the Church, and she told him that if he were baptized, she would no longer consider him her son. With fewer than 300 members in Brazil, the Church did not have a single chapel there. I am truly astonished by my father’s determination and courage.
How could he make such a decision in the face of so many unfavorable circumstances? The answer is simple: it was because my father read the Book of Mormon.

Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis

A vein of gold

If you have ever listened to the way gold miners talk in the movies, they talk about finding the main or richest vein of gold within the rock. They chip away looking for good color until they run into a pure vein, where almost everything you pull out of the mine is more gold than rock. Well, 2 Nephi 10-24 is that kind of vein. It is dripping with doctrinal gold. It makes summarizing it or writing about it almost ridiculous. First, it is already a summary of some of the most important passages of Isaiah, and second, it is so rich that no matter what is said, 10 important things are left unsaid. However, that is the challenge before me, so here goes...

Jacob begins preaching on day two of conference and explains that the promises he has read them and the ones he is about to tell them are for them because they are members of the house of Israel, which also means it would apply to anyone that accepts the gospel because they are also considered part of the Tribes of Israel. He promises that although many people including their own children may die in unbelief, because of the savior their children will be restored to them. He tells them that an angel revealed unto him that the savior shall be called Christ and that he would be born among the jews and that they would crucify him. Now, I thought Christ was a title (so it makes sense that would be easily revealed). The saviors earthly name would have been Jesus Barjoseph, which actually would have been Joshua Barjoseph, since that is the hebrew. I think the title of Christ was actually greek, so it is interesting that the greek title is revealed to Jacob. Either that, or as it was translated, the more familiar name of Jesus the Christ is what Joseph Smith read as the translation. That makes sense to me as well. Either way, the saviors name and title is revealed to Jacob who teaches it to his people. This probably comes in handy later.

This chapter is largely about God fulfilling his promises of the covenant. Obedience is our end of the bargain, and his end of the bargain is gathering our posterity and not allowing them to be lost forever. Is this a driving force within us? I mean, it is a biological force to propagate the species, and particularly our own DNA. It seems that it is used as a spiritual force as well. It isn't so much, if you obey, life will be easy and all will be well. The promise is that our obedient posterity will be gathered and returned to the land of their inheritence. You may wander in the wilderness, but in the end, the family makes it to the promised land kind of thing.

Jacob consecrates the land they are on to their seed. Now in the BOM there are several different peoples brought there. All of them have lands in the western hemisphere consecrated to seed. I wonder how many are gathering here now? Trivia that makes you go hmmmm....

In the end we are told we have the freedom to choose, but I have to say that Jacob phrases it a bit funny. You can choose eternal life or everlasting death... bwah bwah bwah! While that is the logical juxtaposition in the end, and perhaps the eternal perspective we should keep, it is weird to think with each choice we make that it is actually life or death. Maybe that was too irreverent.

Nephi lets us know that Jacob preached a lot more and a lot longer, but that Nephi has recorded what he feels are the important highlights, and he has other things he wants to write into the record. He does testify that both he and Jacob have seen Christ. He also explains that the law of Moses is given to prepare people to receive Christ, at which time, the law will be fulfilled and the law of Moses will come to a close. (Side note- since Nephi is referring to the ordinances of animal sacrifice here, it is interesting that despite the disbelief of some that Christ was the Messiah, the animal sacrifice did end with the destruction of the temple around 70A.D. and isn't practiced) Nephi testifies that there is a Christ that will come and that he will be the fulfillment and beginning of all the promises that God had made, and that without a Christ there would be no God. And then he begins to copy verses of Isaiah.

I always wonder about this. Was Nephi worried that with the seperation from Jerusalem, their language was becoming to altered for all of them to understand the Isaiah records they already had, so he was transposing the ones he wanted to make sure to preserve to his posterity? OR was this purely for us? Did we need the repeat and clarification of Isaiah (although what is here isn't that much clearer than what we have of Isaiah)? Or both? Or neither and something else entirely? Too many questions.

Since many of the prophecies of Isaiah were of the Savior's mortal ministry, they have been fulfilled. Isaiah also prophesied about the last days before the Saviors return and I am just going to put a little + sign next to the things I think have been fulfilled.

+There will be a temple of the Lord built in the tops of the mountains and all nations shall flow into it.

He shall judge among the nations, and they will beat their swords into plow shares (seems to ebb and flow, but don't seem to get all the way there)

Lord has forsaken his people (+?) because they worship idols and the work of their own hands.

Mean man boweth not himself down, nor the great man humble himself (++++ doesn't this happen all the time?)

Lofty looks of men humbled and haughtiness of men bowed down. (still coming) Day of the Lord, idols abolished, the lord will appear and all people will know who he is.


Okay, I have to say here, that I am not unappreciative of some of the works of man and I wonder how to watch myself in that. I am one of those people that cringes in disaster movies because there is a penchant for destroying some of the worlds most beautiful and meaningful buildings. I don't like it. I love art, culture, and many things that are man made. Some would say that all things of worth including art and culture are inspired by god, and therefore unjustly credited to man. I am not sure where I lie in this sometimes.

Most importantly, we declared that the Book of Mormon is a book that testifies that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. Great prophets throughout the Book of Mormon have borne solemn witness that Jesus Christ is the Creator of the earth, the Redeemer of mankind the Only Begotten of the FatherThese Book of Mormon prophets knew Him, as Abraham and Moses did, and received and taught His everlasting gospel. As we read and study their words, we gain a deeper understanding of the Savior’s matchless love, His perfect life and example, and the blessings of His great atoning sacrifice.

Elder Craig C. Christensen

Isaiahic Territory

Okay- This is where this blog is going to get sticky. We are entering Isaiahic territory now. For a good part of Second Nephi, Nephi and Jacob preach and copy from the writings of Isaiah. And the problem with just blogging Isaiah is that each verse is so rich, it could be its own entry, which actually might make a lovely idea for a follow up blog starting around the new year. However, in this blog, it doesn't really help, so to deal with it, I am going to summarize as best as possible and perhaps pick out a theme or half a one to talk about. If that means you all think I am cheating... well, it is because I kind of am. Oh well, repenting is becoming a favorite hobby of mine.

When we left off, Jacob was preaching out of Isaiah, and in chapter 8, I think he still is. It is a little unclear actually. He was preaching to the people, and then 2 or three chapters of Isaiah seem just stuck in and then we get back to him preaching again. He seems to be reading straight out of Isaiah to them.

Overall, I must say, Isaiah has a great of way of making you feel wonderful and terrible at the same time. He is always saying things like you are lower than the dust, but no worries, because the lord is so merciful and he thinks you are great. Chapter 8 starts out with a gem of his, "Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness. Look unto the rock from whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from whence ye are digged." Quite the confidence booster, isn't it? And he was only saying that to the people TRYING. Not to the others who are ignoring him.

I think Isaiah is always talking about being a covenant people, but in this he is also talking about where you put your priorities. Do you treasure the opinion of men above the opinion of God? Where do you put your trust? Those who trust in the Lord will receive an eternal happiness. Those who don't? Well... it ain't so good. And throughout it the Lord is begging us, pleading and reasoning with us to choose the better part. He is talking to us individually, but also as a people and as a recoginition of what will encompass the gathering of Israel.

Jacob steps back in at the beginning of 9 to teach the people about the gathering of Israel in the last days, and he makes it clear that they will be gathered to the "lands" of their inheritence. A plural indicates more than one, so this isn't just about Jews gathering to Jerusalem. Here Jacob explains the need for the atonement of the Savior and the part it plays in the greater plan of salvation. Jacob outlines the entire plan in these passages: how we had to have the fall, but that made us vulnerable to both death of the body and spiritual death, or being out of God's presense forever. He explains how the resurrection and atonement of the Savior calls us forth out of these deaths and provides hope for our return to live with God, if we live the commandments. Jacob then starts a laundry list of all the ways we can still screw up and lose out on the gift of the atonement, and like most lists of sins and their consequences, it doesn't exactly make you want to sing. Let's just say there are a lot of Wo's. Wo's to woes. And that gets me wondering, what the heck is going on in Nephi?? I mean, they are 40 years out, and they are preaching to the choir. What has the choir been up to? Ouch!

But Jacob ends hopefully. He pleads for their preparation for a glorious day, when they shall receive the rewards of eternal happiness. He is downright sunny as he ends and tells them to let their hearts rejoice and to be grateful for God's many mercies.

At the very last, he either is worn out and can't continue or he notices that they are, because he reserves part of his talk for the next day. Think I will too.