The Culture Enoch Preached To

37 And it came to pass that Enoch went forth in the land, among the people, standing upon the hills and the high places, and cried with a loud voice, testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him.

38 And they came forth to hear him, upon the high places, saying unto the tent-keepers: Tarry ye here and keep the tents, while we go yonder to behold the seer, for he prophesieth, and there is a strange thing in the land; a wild man hath come among us. (Moses 6:37)

These verses give us subtle details about the culture Enoch preached to and we see some of the kinds of wickedness they were involved in.

First, we are told that as he testified against their works, all men were offended in him.  They were not used to being told they were doing the wrong thing.  It seems their culture had squelched forms of chastisement against sin.  Enoch comes along and he gives it to them straight exactly what they were doing wrong and their first reaction was to take offense.  Everyone felt convicted in their conscience.

Second, they hire tent-keepers to watch their tents while they go listen to Enoch.  Why did they need tent-keepers?  Because there were thieves everywhere who would steal whatever was not nailed down if someone wasn’t in the tent to watch things.

Third, they call Enoch a wild man.  His frank speech and freedom to express truth seems positively untamed and predictable.  He was a loose cannon to them.  Interestingly enough, they can’t stop listening.  It is also possible that his “wildness” was divine drive and anxious engagement in the good cause of preaching.

So, Enoch preached to a culture that lied about good and evil, that stole from each other, and that had silenced social reformers, and probably had to be prodded constantly into doing anything resembling duty.

It is so interesting to me that these people have one foot firmly in the world – taking measures to prevent their stuff from being stolen, which is a consequence of their own rampant dishonesty and thievery – and one foot inching toward Zion—wanting to hear the prophet Enoch speak.  I wonder what attitude they had as they listened more.  I wonder if they were willing to be chastised in order to hear others be chastised too, or whether they were starting to learn and accept the righteous principles Enoch taught.

I’ve had a few experiences recently when sharing the truth has made me feel a little “wild.”  In one conversation a woman was telling me that there are so many churches out there that you can choose the one that you like that works best for you.  I plucked up my courage and said, “Actually, it isn’t a matter of choosing what we like.  It is about finding the way of salvation.”  She looked at me like she had never thought of it that way or had never expected me to say something like that. 

Have you had an experience like this that you could share?

Two Angels Sitting in the Empty Tomb

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I was reading in John 20 about the resurrection and the disciples’ discovery that Jesus’ body was gone and I ran across this detail:

11 ¶But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (John 20:11-12)

This detail about the angels sitting one at the head and one at the feet seemed very odd to me.  They seemed too far apart.  Wouldn't you imagine these angels would be more likely to sit together?  It terms of body language it makes it seem as if they don’t like each other.  But it would be strange for two angelic messengers to be sent who didn’t like each other, right?

In the process of reading about others have wrote about this chapter, I ran across a wonderful insight on this from the blog “Jesus is Lord!” in the post “A Study of John20:1-23.”   It connected the angels’ positions at the head and foot with the positions of the cherubim on the mercy seat of the ark of the ark of the covenant in the temple, the detail of which, as we know, were given by revelation to Moses in Exodus 25:

18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.

19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof….

21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. (Exodux 25:18-19, 21)

When I read this, I thought, Oh that’s interesting; the angels were imitating the cherubim on the mercy seat! 

And then I thought, Wait a second! No!  The cherubim on the mercy seat were meant to testify and prefigure the angels sitting in the empty tomb!  And I realized that Heavenly Father had meant for the construction of the ark of the covenant with the cherubim’s positions to testify of Christ’s resurrection and his empty tomb so many years ahead of time.  And the instructions to put the testimonies given in the ark teach us that we need to put our faith in Christ and His resurrection.

Wow…

Isaiah 18 on Signs of the Restoration

1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings,

which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea,

even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers,

to a nation scattered and peeled,

to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto;

a nation meted out and trodden down,

whose land the rivers have spoiled!

3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth,

see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains;

and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

4 For so the Lord said unto me,

I will take my rest,

and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs,

and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect,

and the sour grape is ripening in the flower,

he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks,

and take away and cut down the branches.

6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains,

and to the beasts of the earth:

and the fowls shall summer upon them,

and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

7 ¶In that time shall the present be brought

unto the Lord of hosts

of a people scattered and peeled,

and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto;

a nation meted out and trodden under foot,

whose land the rivers have spoiled,

to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts,

the mount Zion. 

(Isaiah 18)

This is a tricky chapter because there is a lot of imagery in it that is difficult to connect together into anything that we recognize.  I have studied it carefully, and I have also looked online to see what others have said to try to explain it, and there is a lot of disagreement about what it means.  Most commentaries make interesting points, but also ideas that seem to go of into left field, so I recommend you search and read and decide for yourself.  There are also things I still don’t understand myself, so I expect to grow in my understanding as well.

One thing that seems helpful is to first to pick out some recognizable features.

In our scriptures, we can start by noting the chapter summary:  “The Lord will raise the gospel ensign, send messengers to his scattered people, and gather them to Mount Zion.”   The summary seems to focus upon the words “ensign,” (v3) the phrase “Go, ye swift messengers” (v2), and “scattered” (v2, 7) and the phrase “to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion” (v7). 

However, there is more to the chapter than just messengers and gathering.  There is an extensive puzzling description of the people to whom this prophecy is addressed (v1-2), there is a time when the Lord rests and considers (v4), there is a time when a harvest of sour grapes ripens and is pruned (v5), a scene of devastation when animals and birds feed for years on what is left (v6), and a present brought to the Lord at Mount Zion of a people (v7). 

If we read this with our testimony of the restoration of the gospel, perhaps we gain a better understanding.  I believe that the verse that should grab our attention most immediately is verse 3:

All ye inhabitants of the world,

and dwellers on the earth,

see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains;

and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

The ensign on the mountains is an image that we understand and will automatically recognize.  We have a church magazine called the Ensign (though that didn’t become its name until late in the 20^th century).  The house of the Lord established in the tops of the mountains (Isaiah 2:2) is another type of ensign.  General conference is another kind of ensign, a standard waved in the eyes of the world.  Isaiah tells the entire world to take notice when they see the ensign lifted up.

As for the blowing trumpet image, it is one that we also recognize in the statue of the angel Moroni blowing his trumpet from the tops of most of our temples.  For a long time that image was put on the cover of our missionary Book of Mormons.

I think the ensign and the blowing trumpet were signs that Isaiah gave in this scripture to the rest of the world to warn them to sit up and take notice when the restored gospel would begin to come forth from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Another part of this verse that we understand because of our testimonies of the restored gospel is verse 7:

In that time shall the present be brought

unto the Lord of hosts

of a people scattered and peeled,

and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto;

a nation meted out and trodden under foot,

whose land the rivers have spoiled,

to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts,

the mount Zion. 

We understand the idea of bringing a people as a present to the place of the name of the Lord, to mount Zion in several senses.  People converted to the gospel bring themselves as a present to the Lord as they submit to His will.  But further, as Latter-day Saints, we know that converted people also begin to do temple work for their ancestors, in effect bringing a present to the Lord in the temple of the names they do vicarious ordinance work for.  It reminds me of Joseph Smith’s teaching:

Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand; and who can abide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation. (D&C 128:24, emphasis added)

The “land shadowing with wings” could be interpreted as the land of America.  America has been ever “shadowed with wings,” or protected by heavenly powers.  It also has lots of air transportation, but this interpretation may be less helpful, since other nations also have air transportation. 

to a nation scattered and peeled -- The United States is indeed quite scattered, such as with Alaska that is disconnected from the main part of the United States, and Hawaii, that island clear out in the Pacific ocean.  It has unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands.  As for “peeled,” one site says that it can also be translated as “obstinate,” “independent-minded,” or “smooth” (clean-shaven?)  (http://www.icr.org/books/defenders/3998/)  “Peeled” could also refer to the manner that America peeled away from Great Britain to obtain its independence. 

to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto -- This could refer to the way the United States has become a dominant superpower.  Even in its first years, it was “terrible,” in that oppressive mobs have frequently combined to express displeasure and to mete out vigilante justice. (It was after all, a mob that participated in the Boston Tea Party, even if we have sacralized that part of our history.)

To a nation meted out and trodden down – “meted out” could be referring to the way a nation has been measured and surveyed for settlement.  “a nation…trodden down” evokes the image of a place being walked all over, and this may be referring to cities that have many pedestrian areas, but also to the way the nation had built roads everywhere.  In Israel in Isaiah’s day, roads where made by people who just walked in the same place over and over until the ground was so compacted that nothing grew on it.  If Isaiah saw our concrete and asphalt roads in vision, he probably wouldn’t think that we had put any substance down to make the road, he would think that we had trod over the ground so much that the ground naturally became like that.  If he saw all the roads in our cities and our highway systems, he would have indeed called us a nation trodden down.

whose land the rivers have spoiled! – Some think that “spoiled” is to be interpreted as “divided.”  America is divided by a number of large rivers, such as the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Columbia, the Colorado, the Rio Grande, the Brazos, the Ohio, and more.  At http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/rivers/ I found a list of 28 United States rivers that were over 600 miles long!  Still, spoiling can also be interpreted as destruction and carrying away property by river flood.  America has had a number of devastating floods during its history that have caused huge amounts of damage.  The flooded Missouri River in 1993, for instance, caused $15 billion in damages and was the second costliest on record (Top 10 Historic U.S. Floods, http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2070796_2070798_2070783,00.html).

Verses 4-6 are trickier.

4 For so the Lord said unto me,

I will take my rest,

and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs,

and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

 5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect,

and the sour grape is ripening in the flower,

he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks,

and take away and cut down the branches.

 6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains,

and to the beasts of the earth:

and the fowls shall summer upon them,

and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

I looked up pruning grapes on the internet to see if understanding that might help with understanding these verses.  I learned that pruning is done both early and late.  Early pruning establishes which branches will bear fruit.  Late pruning during the summer helps balance the productivity of the vine with leaf and shoot growth.  It seems to me that Isaiah meant for the grapevine to represent the house of Israel and he was trying to show how the Lord would prune unproductive branches out to be destroyed.  The imagery of fowls and beasts summering and wintering on the plucked branches makes me think that it means that Gentiles would benefit from the destruction. 

I think there are lessons we can get from this idea of early pruning (cutting off springs) and late pruning (cutting down branches).  The Lord is willing to cut off unrepentant individuals from the church whether they are new or old members.  Looked at it another way, He will purify the church of iniquity whether it is early in its history, or later in its history. 

What does this mean in verse 4 that the Lord will “consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest”?  The metaphor is peculiar.  What principle are we to learn about the Lord and how He is considering?  How might we draw comfort from this?

The first question we might ask is, “What do we know about how dew forms?”  Dew is formed when water vapor in the air is cooled past the dew point and condenses into water droplets.  The hotter it is, the more water that air can hold, and the more humid it will feel. 

A “cloud of dew” could also loosely be called a “clear heat” because you can see straight through this water vapor in the air; it doesn’t appear as clouds.  Visible clouds would be fog, which wouldn’t be a clear heat.  So “cloud of dew” and “clear heat” are synonyms. 

One principle I might learn is this -- just like a cloud of water can be in the air without us seeing it, the Lord is there in the temple, even though we can’t see Him.  Just like we know water is in the air by how humid the air feels, we can sense the presence of the Lord through the Spirit.  Just like the herbs wait for dew to condense and water them, we Saints wait for the time when the Lord will appear and nourish us.  We might also say that we are nourished already as the doctrines of the priesthood distill upon our souls as the dews from heaven (see D&C 121:45).

I personally find this comforting since it confirms to me that I am seen and known by the Lord. 

Thoughts on D&C 107

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            A few years ago I got to substitute teach seminary (two classes on the same day) on D&C 107 about the priesthood.  It was truly a blessing to have a week to prepare and study that chapter and even to struggle over how to teach it.   I think I lived and breathed it.   I want to share with you some experiences that I had in that process.

            One of the things I noticed in that section was the importance of quorums.  It seemed to me that the Lord must have a purpose for grouping priesthood holders in quorums.   I thought my husband would know, so I asked him if he knew how belonging to a quorum blessed his life.   But he didn’t know.   Interestingly enough, the very day I asked him this, the church had a worldwide leadership broadcast and my husband went to it.  He came home and told me, “They talked about quorums.  Quorums have certain duties to do and they are supposed to help priesthood holders reach their goals.”  This experience strengthened my testimony.  The Lord knew of our conversation and considered it important enough to include something about that in the leadership training.  Heavenly Father wanted my husband and I to know how quorums can be a blessing to the priesthood holders in them.

One of the parts of D&C 107 that had always puzzled me was the middle that diverts from describing priesthood duties to talk about how Adam ordained Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, and Seth ordained Lamech and Methuselah ordained Noah.  I would think to myself, “Why do we care about this?  They are dead!”  My seminary preservice teacher cleared it all up when he said it demonstrated how important it is to know priesthood line of authority.  It’s true.  You can even draw a little chart from verses 42-52.

So I wanted to tell that to the seminary class I was going to teach, and I decided I would find out what my husband’s line of authority was.  I asked my husband if he had it, and he said that he had never gotten a copy of it from his dad.  (gasp)  To give him credit, he got right on the phone with his dad and asked him to email him a copy of his priesthood line of authority, so now he has it.  And it was interesting to see what happened to my husband when he looked at it and studied it.  I watched him get excited about it.  Every five minutes he came to me with a new realization that struck him as he thought about it.  It was plain to me that knowing his priesthood line of authority was a blessing to him.  It also bolstered my confidence in him.

You see?  Even if the high school students I taught didn’t get anything from the lesson, my preparation had already blessed me and my husband in two big ways!

I was struck by the flexibility of priesthood organization—high priests and elders can do all the duties in the Aaronic priesthood.  This ensures that lack of Aaronic priesthood does not get in the way of members receiving the outward ordinances.

Also, any priesthood office can preside over a church meeting if no higher offices are present.  I suppose even a deacon can preside if no other priesthood holders are present.  This increases the accessibility of the priesthood and makes all priesthood holders equally important.  If one priesthood holder is present, there is the authority of God.

In the verses 27-32 about the First Presidency, Apostles, and Seventy quorums, it struck me how often the word “decision” occurred.  Can you believe 8 times?  That indicated that decision-making was very important to these governing bodies.  I was impressed by the importance placed upon reaching decisions unanimously and righteously.   Considering the disagreement that occurs in the highest governing body of our country, I find it both amazing and reassuring that the Lord requires unanimity in the decision-making of the highest quorums of the church.   It teaches me how important unity is and reminds me of the scripture “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.”  (D&C 38:27)  It also gives us reassurance that in the church, decisions are not made by fiat by a single authority without input from anybody else.   The whole of the quorum participates as a council.

I was also struck by the promise extended to them as they make decisions in righteousness.

30 The decisions of these quorums, or either of them, are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity;

31 Because the promise is, if these things abound in them they shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord.  (D&C 107:30-31)

The promise “they shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord” is in a sort of negative form, so we have to look at it in its positive form “they shall be fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord,” which is essentially about receiving revelation.

I’m sure that every leader in the church trying to make righteous decisions wants to know that their decision is one that the Lord approves of and is exactly what the Lord would do if He were in their place.  I have read stories in which leaders bear testimony that they have that assurance and they know what they are doing is the will of the Lord.  Just one example is when the revelation was received that the priesthood could be given to every worthy male member of the church.  This promise is fulfilled.

In trying to prepare to teach D&C 107 I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I could summarize it or distill it down into a more concentrated form, and I was defeated in every attempt.   This gave me a great respect for how it is presented, and also made me really wonder how I was going to teach it.   I had to obtain inspiration and it came in just enough time for me to make the preparations before I had to go teach it.   (The method was to break the section into units and have each student study a unit and share what they learned from it and why it was important to know.)

I have felt the power of the priesthood in my life and I know that it truly is the power of God.  It is easy to take for granted, yet it is incredible that this power was given again by divine administration through ancient apostles less than 200 years ago!     

Cunning Devices of Amalickiah

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Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake. (Alma 46:10)

Cunning device mentioned here, but not elaborated on at all, beyond mentioning flatteries.  It is as though Amalickiah was suspected to have been part of some sort of chicanery, but he did not seem obviously connected to it except in trying to take advantage of it by riding a tide of public feeling.

Perhaps we must look to Alma 47 (the story of betrayal and murder among the Lamanites) for a sample of the kind of cunning device that Amalickiah may have used among the Nephites.  Since Amalickaih was leading away church members and lower judges, he may have staged situations to make it look like church members following him were better than those who didn’t or priests and teachers in the church.  He may have staged court cases to make it look like the lower judges were wiser and fairer than the higher judges of the land.  Or perhaps Amalickiah used some sort of staged atrocity to put the church in a bad light.  Perhaps he used some sort of false flag attack on his people, framing the church and bringing the free government into disrepute to make it look as though choosing him as a leader was the only rational choice. 

Under the supposition that Amalickiah tried to make the church look bad, Captain Moroni would have to do something to demonstrate that the church was not responsible.  The Title of Liberty would make obvious to everyone what values the church members espoused. 

The words of those wanting to maintain that title as they rent their clothes and made a covenant was very specific—“We covenant that we will be destroyed if we fall into transgression.”  The covenantal acceptance of destruction as a penalty for sin seems very strange… unless you see it in the context of a group publicly declaring under oath that they had nothing to do with some evil act that may have been attributed to them.  This oath would also make Amalickiah’s followers doubt the justice of their own cause, especially if their arguments were based on supposition that the church and the free government were bad.

In Which I Muck About With Prophecy in 2 Nephi 3

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In 2 Nephi 3, Lehi gives his words of goodbye to his son Joseph and prophesies of Joseph Smith and Moses.  We know this chapter pretty well, yes?  After all, a whole Sunday school lesson focuses on this chapter.

One of the things that has puzzled me about this chapter is that Lehi shares this prophecy with his son Joseph as if it has great significance for his son.  Yet Lehi’s son Joseph is not one of the people talked about in the prophecy!  It’s like a dying father saying, “My son, you have great reason to rejoice because some day this prophecy will be fulfilled even though you’ll never see it or know these people or play any part in it.”  It deserves a great big “SO WHAT?!” not only from Lehi’s son Joseph, but also from the rest of us.

So I had to go hunting for the significance it would have to Lehi’s son Joseph and also to us.  We can already easily imagine Joseph Smith would recognize himself in the prophecy, what with his translating and his father named Joseph too, but what about the other people?  There’s a bit of a hint in v3-5:

3 And now, Joseph, my last-born, whom I have brought out of the wilderness of mine afflictions, may the Lord bless thee forever, for thy seed shall not utterly be destroyed.

4 For behold, thou art the fruit of my loins; and I am a descendant of Joseph who was carried captive into Egypt. And great were the covenants of the Lord which he made unto Joseph.

5 Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.

The prospect of the seed of Joseph (son of Lehi) being partially destroyed is not cheering, BUT Lehi points out the prophecy of a righteous branch that would be broken off, yet remembered in the covenants, and even though they would fall into darkness, they would be brought to the light by another of Joseph in Egypt’s seed.  And much of the rest of the prophecy is about this seer.  The part Lehi was trying to underline for his son was that this prophecy made so many years ago was now on its way to fulfillment.  Their exit from Jerusalem and journey to the new world marked the commencement and they could call themselves that “righteous branch…broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered.”   I suppose we can learn from this that the only thing that can come close to the excitement of watching prophecy be fulfilled is to watch the pieces of prophecy fall into place on the way to future fulfillment and find that your family is directly involved. 

The other thing Lehi was excited about was a prospect that one of Joseph (son of Lehi) descendents would end up being this choice seer that would do so much good.  This I find frankly confusing.  I don’t know if we’ve traced Joseph Smith Jr.’s ancestry all the way back to Lehi’s son Joseph.  Seems to me I heard somewhere that JS ancestry has been traced to Ireland.  Does this mean there is some crazy genetic linkage making JS a descendant of Lehi’s Joseph?  Who knows?  I’ll leave that to the skilled genealogists to work out.  Another possibility is that there may be a second seer, one that comes directly out of Lehi’s Joseph’s lineage to help other descendants of Lehi to the light.  Let’s look at v23-24:

23 Wherefore, because of this covenant thou art blessed; for thy seed shall not be destroyed, for they shall hearken unto the words of the book.

24 And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren.

Lehi specifically states that Joseph’s (son of Lehi) seed would hearken to the book and one of his seed would rise up and do much good and bring much restoration to the house of Israel and to the seed of Lehi.

If we assume that the restoration has been done already, then we tend to think this means Joseph Smith.  If so, then Joseph Smith is somehow a descendent of Joseph (son of Lehi).

But if we assume there is more to be restored (like, say, the implementation of a city called Zion..), then it becomes likely that another mighty one is to rise up, most likely through the ranks of the priesthood leadership, one who IS a descendant of Lehi’s Joseph.  And they’d have to be pretty dang awesome to stick out among all the fabulous priesthood leadership we already have, such that we can point to them as a fulfillment of Book of Mormon prophecy.

Naturally, these thoughts of mine are outside the usual discussions on this chapter.  Might I be wrong?  Of course!  But I am also willing to admit that there can be much more prophesied that we don’t recognize until it comes to pass right under our noses, and we do believe that there will yet be revealed many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Also, the important thing for us to realize is the prophecy “thy seed…shall hearken unto the words of the book” is in the process of fulfillment right now with missionary work to South and Central America.  How exciting for the missionaries who get to be a part of that!  How exciting for the new converts coming into the church there! 

Why so much angelic explanation about the Bible in Nephi’s vision?

In studying Nephi’s vision, it seemed to me that I should mark which parts were vision and which parts were angelic exposition. 

In doing so, I noticed that the angel put a lot of effort into describing the Bible and the scriptures among the Gentiles.  I wondered, why was all that needed?  I looked at what Nephi had seen prior to it, and I realized he had seen something very odd from a spiritual standpoint.  He had seen the formation of a great and abominable church, and then he had seen gentile nations conquering the promised land while carrying a book and that they had the Lord’s spirit!  This would be puzzling.  Nephi would ask himself how a people with a great and abominable church among them could be permitted to prosper so and be favored over his own people who had dwindled in unbelief.

The answer was that the book (the Bible) had influenced the gentiles for good, even after it had been corrupted by the great and abominable church, and even though the corruptions caused lots of mistakes.  The book was more powerful than the great and abominable church.  The angel wanted Nephi to understand the exact nature of the book and where the gentiles’ blessings came from.

What is Meant by Searching, Studying, and Pondering the Scriptures?

In our church, when we talk about how we interact with scriptures, we use certain words—search, study, and ponder.   I think that we probably do a lot of reading, but the words search, study, and ponder imply engaging with the text in certain specific ways so I think it is worth it to discuss those words and how we act them.

Search

Search – to try to find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly.

It took me a long time to figure out how to search the scriptures. My young mind was usually thinking something like, "Why would I want to search for something in the scriptures? We already have a Topical Guide!"

In order to search the scriptures, you have to have something to search for, which means there has to be a topic or subject that you are interested enough in that you want to find out more about it.  I have found that I can’t just say to myself, “I will search for everything I can find about the topic of faith.”  For some reason I don’t do very well with giving myself arbitrary study assignments.  I do a lot better when my curiosity has been raised by something I’ve experienced or observed.  For example, after doing sealings at the temples, I might wonder what one of the words in the ceremony means, and then decide to search for instances of that word. 

Searching the scriptures has been made much easier for us today because the church has compiled the Topical Guide for us with a whole bunch of scriptures that use a particular word or that use very similar words.   This makes it easy for us to examine how the scriptures use a particular word and get a broader view of what it means and the different principles that have been recorded about it.  However, it doesn't have everything there, so exhaustive concordances are helpful. There are also apps that allow us to make exhaustive searches so we can see every instance of the word and how it is used in the scriptures.  Yet, even these tools can't predict every application that a scripture may be useful for, so you'll find yourself getting good at thinking of synonyms and search those too.

Example: Two years ago, I wondered if the scriptures had anything to say that could help me understand the proper use of cell phones.  I had to get really creative with the terms that I used, but I did find principles about proper use of cell phones in the scriptures!

However, there are things that we may want to know that require us to do our search the old-fashioned way—speed-reading through the text for anything that could have any hint of application to the particular topic we are wondering about.  When I was working on my book “Isaiah Insights to Teenage Temptations,” I suspected the Topical Guide wouldn’t give me much about the Word of Wisdom in Isaiah.  I found some references to wine, and not much else.  So I had to read through the whole book really fast looking for anything that could remotely be applied to the Word of Wisdom, healthy eating, and/or addictions.  I found a lot of good things that I would never have found otherwise.

Study

Study – devote time and attention to acquiring knowledge on an academic subject, esp. by means of books; investigate and analyze (a subject or situation) in detail; learn intensively about something, esp. in preparation for a test of knowledge.

If we merely read through the scriptures just to get through a chapter, we are not studying.  Reading through is necessary to become familiar with the text, so it is preliminary to study.  The best kind of study, I have found, is that which is started off by something one finds that is particularly moving, surprising, disturbing, or which otherwise sticks out in one’s mind.  This makes it a pleasure to pursue it further and often it is something very closely related with a spiritual need that one has at the time, so it is highly relevant. 

There are any number of things to look at.  Key words, implications, doctrines, a character’s motivations, definitions, cross references, and more.

I’ve begun to notice that on occasions that I feel an inner drive to study something in the scriptures, later I encounter a life challenge directly related to what I studied.   Once I had a drive to give attention to the dangers of priestcraft and about a week later I faced a temptation related to that.  My study had prepared me to resist a future temptation.   Sometimes we forget that we are being tested during this life.  The scriptures help prepare us to pass the tests that come, if we study.

Ponder

 Ponder – think about (something) carefully, esp. before making a decision or reaching a conclusion.

There are so many ways to ponder, I have no doubt any list I could make would never be exhaustive.   For me, pondering revolves so much about asking questions about the text, then trying to answer those questions.

·      What would each character in the story be thinking and feeling that would make them act the way they did?

·      What other stories does this remind me of? 

·      What is the context of the story and how does it affect what it is emphasized in the story?

·      Why did the writer consider this to be important to record?  Why did the writer record it in this way, in this order?

·      What details am I drawn to and why?  Does the writer want to draw me with these details?  Why or why not?

·      Does this warn us or lead us upward?

·      What principles are being taught? 

·      How I have seen this working in my life or the lives of those I love?  Have I seen the problems that come from not following this principle?

·      How does this story apply to me?

·      What am I doing that is similar to this?

When we try to decide what a scripture means for us, we are pondering.  When we have to make a decision of how to apply scriptural principles to current problems, pondering is involved.   When we find something that reminds us our lives and we are drawn to see how many points of comparison we can find, that involves pondering. 

There are so many ways to ponder the scriptures that as time goes on, we discover our reading can take more and more time as we cycle through the array of methods we’ve discovered.

God gave us the scriptures, and when we search, study, and ponder, we make it so He can keep giving us more gifts of His words.

 Happy Thanksgiving!