It is Given unto Thee

 

 

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Moses 3:17)

 

I am intrigued by that phrase “It is given unto thee,” specifically because of that IT. What does “it” refer to?

 

The meaning that I originally ascribed to that “it” was that it referred to agency, as though it were saying, “thou mayest choose for thyself, for choice is given unto thee.” This reading reinforces the principle that the Lord gives us our agency to choose, even to choose things that He forbids.

 

Another different meaning has come to me in the last year, one that says, “thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for the tree [of knowledge of good and evil] is given unto thee.”  This reading shows us that Heavenly Father provides us with circumstances where both good and evil are present, and He warns us where the evil is so that we can make informed choices that have real consequences. Our God is a God of good gifts, powerful gifts, sometimes dangerous gifts. There is righteousness not just in choosing good, but refraining from the bad.

 

Do you see any additional ways to read it that you can share?

Larger universally applicable principles from the Lord’s warning about the waters in D&C 61

13 And now, behold, for your good I gave unto you a commandment concerning these things; and I, the Lord, will reason with you as with men in days of old.

14 Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.

15 Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters.

16 And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart.

17 And, as I, the Lord, in the beginning cursed the land, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.

18 And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;

19 I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree.  (D&C 61:13-19)

These verses are associated with the experience that Joseph Smith and some of the other elders of the church had as they traveled on the Missouri river and had a dangerous time avoiding canoe turnover from underwater hazards and got in fights with each other over what happened.

 

These are really strange verses and sound very mystical and woo-woo. However, today when I was reading and pondering them, I realized they hold some larger principles that we can still use today.

 

Verse 14 and 17 talk about how some things were first blessed then later cursed, or first cursed then later blessed.  What this says to us is that sometimes things can start out good and then turn bad, or they can start out bad and then turn good.  

 

If we apply this today, this might be like if a travel method starts out as very safe and then over time becomes more dangerous and risky. If handcart travel across the plans started out easy, then became more and more dangerous because of weather or bandits or natural disasters, then that would follow the pattern of verse 14. If something starts out dangerous and then gradually becomes safer, then that falls into a pattern like verse 17.  So the message is that safety conditions can change over time for travel (or anything really) and it is important to notice when that transition happens and not continue to do something that is becoming more and more risky.

 

Verse 15 says the day would come when no flesh would be safe upon the waters.  At bottom this is a statement about RISK.  When something becomes so dangerous that no one is safe when doing it, then it is RISKY.  So we have to notice where risk occurs and it is wise to avoid unnecessary risk. Avoiding unnecessary risk when better alternatives exist is not stupid. It is not cowardly. It is wise.

 

“And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart.” – If the previous verse points out there is risk, then this verse tells us that when a certain method of travel becomes risky, the only protection is being righteous.  Why would this be?  Because someone who is righteous, if they have to do something risky, will be doing it only for a good reason when they have no other alternative, and they will learn about the risk, plan how to mitigate it, and be extremely careful, and also ask for the Lord’s protection. (The story of Thomas S. Monson sneaking the temple ceremony information into Soviet-controlled eastern Europe comes to mind here.)  The Lord sees that sort of activity as worthy of protection.  This is part of the principle that we don’t test the Lord’s blessings of protection unless we absolutely need them because there is no other alternative.

 

“And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares” – The key phrase here is “forewarn your brethren.”  When you find out something is dangerous, you don’t keep that info to yourself; you tell others about it too so that they can stay safe. This is one reason why the missionary standards booklet (also known as the missionary white bible) has a section on unauthorized activities because these activities are risky and we want them to stay safe when doing the Lord’s work.

 

“the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof” – This is a very vivid phrase and it captures the imagination. Speculation abounds on what it means. I personally think it is simple. I think “the destroyer” simply means disease because at that time cholera a common deadly disease in river towns. It had to do with a lack of water sanitation and since no one knew germ theory at that time, it would be a long time before that sanitation problem would be fixed.  (Also remember the Word of Wisdom promised that those who follow the principles would be saved from the destroying angel, and we know that good nutrition does help prevent and moderate disease, so there are examples of that terminology being a reference to disease.)

 

Ultimately, the principles in these verses are widely applicable today.  We need to be alert to notice when good activities or travel means turn unsafe and avoid them to mitigate risk to ourselves and others. We need to warn people about danger and risk.

 

There’s a beautiful promise in verse 17 about the good travel methods and can be extrapolated to refer to good activities as well: “even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.”   Good things (safe travel means, good activities) are for the Lord’s saints and we can enjoy it to its fullest extent and rejoice in it and feel grateful for it and recommend it and be creative with it and make it ours.

 

Just for fun, I’m going to rewrite the above verses to apply to social media and we will see how these principles can transfer.

13 And now, behold, for your good I gave unto you a commandment concerning these things; and I, the Lord, will reason with you as with men in days of old.

14 Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed social media; but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed social media.

15 Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe looking at social media.

16 And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to be on social media but he that is upright in heart.

17 And, as I, the Lord, in the beginning cursed TV, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof.

18 And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning social media, that they come not onto it, lest their faith fail and they are caught in snares;

19 I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree.  (D&C 61:13-19)

Saying that TV used to be cursed but now is blessed seems like nonsense right now, but I did that in this example to show how it illustrates there is always the possibility that something that used to be harmful changes into something good.  Also, hopefully the modernized version gives you a sense of how these principles are more universally applicable than just one little journey of prophets and elders on a midwestern river in the 1830s.

Lessons from Elijah’s time of discouragement, 1 Kings 19

 

1 And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.

2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.

3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 ¶ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat.

6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.

7 And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.

8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

9 ¶ And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

15 And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:

16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.

17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

19 ¶ So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?

21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him. (1 Kings 19)

This chapter happens after all the dramatic events of the Diety Duel between Jehovah and Baal, wherein Jehovah sends fire to burn up the sacrifice of the altar that Elijah builds and there is no response from Baal.  

 

Elijah evidently hoped that this miraculous demonstration of fire from heaven would change things and bring the people of Israel back to the worship of Jehovah. Sadly, it turned out that it didn’t solve the systemic problem of a queen that was hostile to the worship of Jehovah and who now wanted to kill the prophet of Elijah.

 

Understandably, this was very discouraging to Elijah. And not only that, he’d been under a lot of physical stress. He’d been traveling hither and yon keeping out of King Ahab’s and Queen Jezebel’s clutches.

 

It is interesting to see this series of interchanges between Elijah and the Lord in this chapter. You don’t see much of this in other chapters; most of the time the Lord tells Elijah to do something, and Elijah just goes to do it.   But here, it’s almost like he “goes off the reservation” because at least twice the Lord asks him what he’s doing there. (I’m sure the Lord knew, but He wanted Elijah to tell Him.)

 

The place Elijah is at has great meaning and significance. His destination turns out to be mount Horeb, one of the mountains at which Moses receives commandments from the Lord. This would be like if President Nelson got in blue funk and decided to go back to the Sacred Grove or Palmyra, New York to the Joseph Smith farm and sit around there for a while.

 

I love that the Lord sends an angel to Elijah while he’s stopped in his journey, to bring him food and drink. And not just once, but twice. I love that the angel says to him, “Arisen and eat, because the journey is too great for thee.”  That validation of Eijah’s difficulties shows the Lord’s awareness of what Elijah is going through. He knows it is hard, and sometimes talking about the hard really helps.

 

I also love that Elijah really tells how he feels. “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword: and I , even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.” (v10) 

 

What can we see that Elijah wants, based on what he says to the Lord in this chapter?

·      He wants to die (v4)

·      He wants to rest.

·      And yet he doesn’t like that other people (especially Jezebel) want to kill him

·      He’d rather have the Lord take his life.

·      When he says “for I am not better than my fathers” (v4) it seems like he hoped he could be a better prophet than those that came before him and he hoped to be more successful in bringing the people back to the Lord, but found that he wasn’t any better and was disappointed by that. (This is another instance of what Jesus taught that “if they reject me, they will reject you too.”)

·      When Elijah says he is alone, we get the sense that he wanted some help, someone to stand with him.

·      When he tells of how the Israelites forsook the covenant, gotten rid of the altars, and slain the prophets, we get the sense that he really wants to change things and bring them back to God.

 

How does the Lord respond to Elijah and the things he wants?

·      He nourishes Elijah with food and drink twice through the angel

·      He gives emotional comfort and validation through the angel

·      He reaches out and asks Elijah questions about why Elijah was there. (Encouraging conversation so as to get to the root matter.)

·      He demonstrates power with a spiritual lesson to teach and edify Elijah. (it seems like the stuff about the big wind, earthquake, and fire were meant to show that the big dramatic displays are not as powerful and penetrating as Elijah would have thought. Up to that point, Elijah’s miracles were the big stuff of drought, fire, reviving life, and continual food supply. But the still, small voice reaches Elijah’s heart, showing that the Lord can do His own work of convincing, while still allowing man agency.)

·      The Lord gives a mission for Elijah to go anoint Hazel to be king over Syria and Jehu to be king over Israel.

·      He gives intelligence that Elisha will be prophet in Elijah’s place. V19-21 show that Elijah got right on that and found Elisha and called him to be part of the Lord’s work.

·      He tells Elijah that there are still 7000 faithful in Israel that have not worshipped Baal.

·      Ultimately, in 2 Kings 2:1-11, we read that later the Lord took Elijah into heaven and made him a translated being.

 

Let’s compare those two lists side by side now and see how they match up.

 

What Elijah wants	The Lord’s matching response
To die	(Later gift of translating Elijah)
To rest	Food, drink, letting him travel to mount Horeb for a while to ponder the spiritual significance of that place and the miracles that occurred there.  (Might translation also be considered a rest of some sort?)
For other people to not kill him	(The translation of Elijah will prevent anyone from ever killing him)
For the Lord to take his life	(The Lord will take him up into heaven, translate him,
To be a better prophet than those who came before	Demonstration that the still, small voice has penetrating power.
To have someone to stand with him	Information that Elisha will take his place (which sends Elijah to him to start training and then he isn’t alone) Information that there are still 7000 faithful in Israel.
To change things, to bring Israel back to God	Mission to set in place regime change by anointing a new king of Syria and a new king of Israel.  This will shake things up a bit and the new conditions may encourage Israel to return to God. (Ultimately, the translation of Elijah will enable him to be part of other important events relating to moving the Lord’s work forward and recover Israel, such as being present on the Mount of Transfiguration, and coming to the Kirtland temple to give sealing keys to Joseph Smith.)

 

We can see that in one way or another, the Lord addressed all of Elijah’s requests, whether explicitly stated or implicit. Some of them He fulfilled in very unique ways. Some of the requests were not granted immediately, but over the longer term (even over thousands of years).

 

This chapter teaches that we can go to God when we are discouraged and lay it all out with Him and that He will strengthen us in all the ways we need.  Let’s remember to take our problems to God.

The Lesson for Us from the Israelites’ Battle with the Amalekites

8 ¶ Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim

9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11 And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

13 And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: (Exodus 17:8-14)

We usually make this story about the importance of sustaining our leaders. It’s a good lesson, since our good leaders have many demands on them and need help accomplishing the work they are inspired to do.

 

However, I noticed another lesson in this story today, a larger one for all of us, whether we’re leaders or not.

 

Remember, the children of Israel have already had one battle with the Amalekites and it isn’t over when the day is over. They’re going to have this battle the next day too. This is strenuous work, and they are not trained warriors. They do the best they can by choosing out men to go fight, but their chosen men were still not trained.

 

So on the second day, Moses holds up his hand—he was probably inspired to do this—and when he does it, he can see from his elevated position on top of the hill that Israel succeeds when he does that. So you do more of what works, right?  If holding up your hand brings success, then you keep doing that as long as it takes, until the job is done.

 

Think about how much endurance it takes to hold up your hand. Compare that to the amount of endurance it would take to swing a sword all day while fighting with an enemy. Those are very different kinds of activities, but they both take strength and endurance.

 

Side note story: I once was visiting with my little nieces and nephews and got two of them into a contest to see who could keep their arm up the longest while holding a 5 lb weight. It was fascinating how competitive they were and all the machinations they went through to relieve their weariness while still keeping their arms up. I think they got to 30 minutes before it was time for lunch and their mom forced a stop to the contest.

 

How long do you suppose that battle took? How long did Moses have to hold his arm up? We see in the text that he got tired after a while and that’s when his brother Aaron and this other fellow Hurr had him sit on a rock while they held his hands up.  They did this the whole day, “until the going down of the sun.”   That’s a super long time.

 

Now, here’s the two-million-dollar question: While we know who held up Moses’ hands, who held up the hands of the Israelites in the battle? 

 

It was the Lord. The Lord gave them the strength, the endurance, the energy, the determination, the perseverance, all of it, to keep swinging that sword and keep swinging that sword and dodging and darting and jabbing and running and pushing and on and on…

 

That was the miracle that we’re supposed to learn and remember from this story. While the prophet got tired and had two persons who held him up, the Lord upheld the people in battle. 

 

So when we need strength and endurance and perseverance and energy because we are just not cut out for the job in front of us, we know who we can turn to and ask for help.

A picture can affect our understanding of the scriptures

 One of my church callings that I've had for the last two years has been ward bulletin specialist. A small part of the calling that I particularly enjoy is the opportunity to choose the pictures and a scripture to go on the front of it.  I usually like to choose a scripture that fits with the theme of the meeting, but sometimes I don't know what the theme is, so I get to freestyle a little.

Sometimes I've found a picture and then searched for a scripture to match it. Sometimes I have a scripture in mind and I have to choose a picture to match it.  (Google images is not recommended, unless I can find an appropriate image free of copyright restrictions.)

Something I've noticed is how the choice of picture can affect how I interpret the verse I choose. This particularly hit me this week. 

After putting that scripture with this image, I found myself staring at it. I felt my heart begin to yearn to embrace my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I also felt their love for me in a powerful way.  It seemed to me that commandment would be the easiest thing in the world to keep. 

 That verse of scripture lost all its abstraction and has became deep and tender. All because of a picture I paired with it.

Toward Greater Inclusion: Re-examining the Gospel Net Parable of Matthew 13:47-50

 

I was reading my scriptures today, particularly in Matt 13, reminding myself of some of Christ’s parables, when I ran across v47, which made me ponder.

 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 13:47-50)

 

There is no explanation for this parable, unlike that of the wheat and the tares. And it is really short, so it’s almost like it is expected that the reader will understand it without too much trouble.  

 

And yet, beyond the pretty obvious message of judgment and the fact that the plight of the wicked is highlighted when they are removed, it is hard to know why Christ thought it was necessary to tell this in addition to the parable of the wheat and the tares.  I felt like there had to be something more in this that I had overlooked.  These parables are supposed to share the mysteries of the kingdom, after all.

 

I started thinking about the process of catching fish with a net. Is the kingdom of heaven like a net used in fishing?  Honestly, I don’t really know because I’m so far removed from anything like that.  It seems like fish don’t just jump willy-nilly into the gospel net through missionary work unless they are super-spiritually-prepared. I’ve grown up in the gospel net and I’ve chosen to stay in it.  I’ve heard of some life-long members who might feel like they are “caught” or “trapped” in the Church’s net though.

 

Something that caught my attention in the parable was the phrase “gathered of every kind.” I have seen short clips of movies of workers on fishing boats sorting through a catch of fish, picking out the types of fish they want.  That made me wonder with relation to the parable--what happens to the types of fish they don’t want?  What if the fishermen catch a jellyfish, for instance?  Is that a marketable product, or do they throw that out?  What if the fishermen in this parable don’t want jellyfish? 

 

That’s when I noticed that in this parable Christ doesn’t necessarily talk about the fish-sorting people being particular about the kind of fish they want. He only tells of them distinguishing between “good” and “bad.”  He speaks of the net having “gathered of every kind.”

 

This led to an encouraging realization—Christ wants every kind of “fish” in His kingdom. He wants jellyfish, shark, and sea anemone, right along with tuna and salmon. He wants every type.  I love that because there are times when I can get my tuna on, but there are other times when I’m a crazy sea cucumber, letting my freak flag fly, and that’s the best I can do.  But if Christ will accept my sea cucumber, I’ll be the best darn sea cucumber I can be.

 

Something else I noticed is what happens to the fish. We might make the assumption that the good fish of the parable are sold in the market for other people to eat, but they’re actually not. They are actually “gathered…into vessels.”  But what for? What happens to them? 

 

This might make you laugh, but the only thing I could imagine those vessels might be was—an aquarium collection!  If they were to be eaten, the fish could just be in baskets, but “vessels” implies some kind of pot that can hold water and thus keep a fish alive. Even though we don’t visualize Bible people having aquariums back then, an aquarium actually makes perfect sense.  Because if the fish are gathered in vessels for an aquarium, then the fish stay alive, and they are fed and stay safe, and they don’t have to worry about other fish eating them out in the big scary sea where big fish are always eating little fish. The aquariums are a safe, nourishing place.

 

So of course the aquarium-owner wants every kind of fish! He loves them all! He wants to see the best specimens of every kind of fish out there. (This is kind of like Finding Nemo, but in reverse…)

 

So maybe this parable is teaching us that we don’t have to worry about fitting to some stifling cultural norm that doesn’t take into account our various personalities and quirks. The only thing we have to worry about is being the best we can be according to God’s commandments. And maybe this parable was meant to teach church leaders to appreciate the good manta rays along with the good trout and bass so they don’t throw them out just because they don’t fit trout-and-bass expectations. It’s also a good lesson for all of us that maybe we need to be humble enough to observe each other and study each other to learn what type of “fish” we’re meeting. We may have met a very good hammerhead shark or moray eel and we just don’t know it.

Review: The ScriptureNotes Web Application is a Powerful, Flexible, Study Tool

The Gospel Library app has some good marking and notation tools, but for a long time I’ve felt its search tools left a lot to be desired. My ipad had a scripture study app that had a pretty good search tool, but its note-taking features frustrated me.

Today I’m happy to tell you about a better scripture study tool. It’s called Scripturenotes. 

If you want to see this tool in action, you can go here [https://scripturenotes.com] to see a video example of it being used. When I watched it, I instantly could see its potential and how it could jumpstart my scripture study, which has been in a bit of a dull place lately.

It's very powerful.

• I can do a search for a word or phrase in the scriptures, then can sort through the search results and eliminate results that aren’t applicable.
• Then, I can create a collection of a curated set of search results, and then make notes on each verse and add different markings to those verses.
• The application provides places to make summarizing statements about the whole collection and what was learned from it.
• It allows me to bold, underline, highlight text, even create my own footnotes. [Can I just say how excited I am to be allowed to create my own footnotes?]
• Another thing about this application that is amazing to me is that it seems like you can just start new search windows endlessly. You can go down a scripture research rabbit hole and follow it as far as you want and not have to worry about losing where you are with everything else.
• And charts! You can add tables to a Master note and then populate it with verses to compare and contrast with each other!
• You can put all kinds of other things in those Master notes: pictures, links, inspiring youtube videos! This makes it incredibly flexible.

The way that it can give room for each verse to have its own notes is another exciting thing. Just looking at that, I could see that if I’d had that in 2018 when I was doing the very first drafting of my Revelation Commentary (a project I’m working on revisions for, by the way,) I would probably have made a lot more progress right away.

I have another writing project on a scriptural topic that will probably have new life breathed into it because of this application! 

How is it on the internet? It depends on your connection. IF you have a fast connection, this should be pretty quick. If your connection is slower, it may go slower.

Can you save your notes that you make on this app? Yes. Creating a collection enables your notes to be saved in the application, and if you want to have a hard copy, you can print a collection of scriptures, along with the notes and markings you’ve made.

Now, with all of this, you may be wondering if there are any problems with this application. Would I change anything about it if I could? 

I have three little quibbles:

1)    It is hard to remember what some of the icons mean that are to the side of the verses. I kind of wish they had directions that appear when the mouse rolls over them. (However, this becomes less of an issue the more one uses the application.) [Edit: This issue has been fixed.]

2)    It would be nice if collection notes saved themselves automatically without having to push the Update button.

3)    Collection notes have a hard time handling large numbers of search results. It was choking over 300+ results, so I had to eliminate some of the search results before I could make a collection. It would be nice if they could just take whatever is thrown at them. [Edit: I've been told this cap is temporary and the current work-around is to make several collection notes and then sort search results into those various collection notes by using the 'drag-and-drop' button]

That being said, it seems like this application is really well-designed.

Now, how much does this application cost?

This is a subscription application, and use of the app costs $49.95/year. This works out to $4.16 per month, or about 14 cents a day. This powerful search tool is probably worth that because of how easy it will make it to drill down into search results and record thoughts and impressions about what you find.  Think of it this way: would you pay 14 cents a day for a tool if you knew that just 15 minutes using it would enable you to learn something new about the gospel?  Flecks of gold, people, flecks of gold…

All in all, this is a very powerful and flexible scripture study web application, and I highly recommend it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via something of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Another perspective on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon

A few weeks ago, the Come Follow Me study material talked about the process of the Book of Mormon coming forth and how miraculous it was. It is often observed how Joseph Smith produced the Book of Mormon through “the gift and power of God”

What about the other perspective of Mormon and Moroni and their process of writing? If it was impossible for Joseph Smith to compose all those pages in 90 days (based on his lack of education), then what does that say about the length and learning and complexity of the task that Mormon and Moroni accomplished in writing it?  Clearly it must have taken years and years of work and study for Mormon to write.

I love that there is the statement of the three witnesses in the very front of the Book of Mormon and that they saw the plates and that their experience with the plates was mediated by an angel from God, which brought divine sanction not only to their experience, but also to their communication of that experience and what the book means for everybody.

Also, witnessed statement is admissible evidence in court. It has to be taken very seriously. I love that Heavenly Father provided that.

Preliminaries for Confirming or Ordaining

And [Jesus] called them by name, saying: Ye shall call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer; and after ye have done this ye shall have power that to him upon whom ye shall lay your hands, ye shall give the Holy Ghost; and in my name shall ye give it, for thus do mine apostles. (Moroni 2:2)

2 After they had prayed unto the Father in the name of Christ, they laid their hands upon them, and said:

3 In the name of Jesus Christ I ordain you to be a priest (or if he be a teacher, I ordain you to be a teacher) to preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ, by the endurance of faith on his name to the end. Amen. (Moroni 3:2-3)

I notice these both say that priesthood holders were to prepare for exercising the priesthood of God by praying first. We see that Jesus instructed His disciples to do this, advising “mighty prayer,” promising that then they would have power.

What is the principle behind Jesus’s commandments to pray mightily first? I think it is this: A man must prepare spiritually and put himself in harmony with the Lord in order to speak for the Lord to one of God’s children. Obedience and submission through prayer is the first step, and praying as commanded does that. Secondly, putting oneself in communication with the Father is necessary before one can have confidence to speak for Him, and prayer is the way that we align our will with His.

Do priesthood holders do this today? I haven’t seen it, but then it may go on in the heart, which I can’t see. But I am sure that if those scriptural practices are followed, greater blessings will result while the priesthood is being used.