The purpose of this project is to bring you closer to Christ through the Book of Mormon. Our Stake Presidency has challenged us to read the Book of Mormon in its entirety before the end of the year while paying special attention to Christ and His mission in the Plan of Salvation. We will be reading the Book of Mormon from August 1-December 31, and our ward will be focusing on the references to Christ throughout the Book of Mormon. As you read we invite you to mark in Red each reference to the Savior. You will be amazed how often He is mentioned.
It is our hope that you accept this challenge with an open heart and know that as you complete the Book of Mormon, you will have a stronger testimony of the importance of this book and its account and witness of Jesus Christ. Remember that through prayer and study you will be able to obtain a stronger testimony as well as a desire to learn more. We hope you will join us as we feast upon the words of Christ together and grow spiritually through this experience.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Aug. 29th-Sept. 4 -- 2 Nephi 24- Jacob 1
Please add comments relating to this weeks readings here. Thanks and enjoy!!
One thing I've noticed, when trying to mark all references to the Savior, is that sometimes it is difficult in the BOM to distinguish between whether the author is talking about the Savior or the Father. I suppose to some extent this is due to the fact that perhaps, especially in the beginning of the BOM, they may not have necessarily even understood about the separate personages that make up the Godhead, but simply referred to the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," who we understand to be the Savior, as "God." For all intents and purposes, the Savior had dealt directly with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses, and in general the Old Testament prophets, so why not refer to Him as God. But sometimes in the BOM it seems like they skip around between using "God" to refer to the Father or "God" to refer to the Son. Even sometimes when they use "The Lord" it seems like they really mean the Father even though we traditionally understand that to mean the Son. But I guess if nothing else it just reminds me of the unity of mission and purpose of the Father and the Son, the alignment of their desires and etc. so that, whether you reference the Son or the Father as giving a commandment, or as blessing you, or so on and so forth, it is the same. That, as the Savior told his disciples in the New Testament, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (Jn. 14:9) and it reminds me of Elder Holland's statement: "It is the grand truth that in all that Jesus came to say and do, including and especially in His atoning suffering and sacrifice, He was showing us who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children in every age and nation. In word and in deed Jesus was trying to reveal and make personal to us the true nature of His Father, our Father in Heaven." (Jeffrey R. Holland, The Grandeur of God, Oct. 2003 General Conference).
I really enjoyed this week's reading assignment. We are told in these chapters that both Nephi and Moroni will be with us at the "judgement bar". As it says in 2 Nephi..."I shall stand face to face before his bar". Just imagine standing "face to face" with our Savior, Nephi and Moroni. Sure makes me want to do better!
I came across a note in my scriptures on 2 Nephi 31:13 I would like to share with you. In 1992, I attended a youth conference at Camp LoMia and Hartman Rector was the keynote speaker. He referenced this scripture and then told a story about being in the Navy and not a member of the church and he admittedly had a problem with bad language. From the moment he entered the waters of baptism, he never swore again. He only speaks with the "tongue of angels"! Moral of the story...watch your language! Susan Parker
Paul, I'm with you on the bit of confusion about which member of the godhead they are specifically referring to, but I don't think it's due to confusion on the part of the author. I was struck by 2 Nephi 25: 24-25 where he talks about keeping the law of Moses until the law be fulfilled in Christ. Although we sometimes call the church in every dispensation but ours the "primitive church," I think they had a more sophisticated grasp of the godhead and the plan of salvation than we do. Here's a prophet that saw the entire panorama of the human experience on earth. I think what a blessing it must have been to him to be an author of scripture--to be able to share that experience, even if only "on paper" to us, people he hadn't personally met. When we do have an opportunity to see Brother Nephi again, how wonderful that we will be able to pick up right where we left off--rejoicing in Christ and glorying in God's plan of happiness.
6 comments:
Isaiah is great.
One thing I've noticed, when trying to mark all references to the Savior, is that sometimes it is difficult in the BOM to distinguish between whether the author is talking about the Savior or the Father. I suppose to some extent this is due to the fact that perhaps, especially in the beginning of the BOM, they may not have necessarily even understood about the separate personages that make up the Godhead, but simply referred to the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," who we understand to be the Savior, as "God." For all intents and purposes, the Savior had dealt directly with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses, and in general the Old Testament prophets, so why not refer to Him as God. But sometimes in the BOM it seems like they skip around between using "God" to refer to the Father or "God" to refer to the Son. Even sometimes when they use "The Lord" it seems like they really mean the Father even though we traditionally understand that to mean the Son. But I guess if nothing else it just reminds me of the unity of mission and purpose of the Father and the Son, the alignment of their desires and etc. so that, whether you reference the Son or the Father as giving a commandment, or as blessing you, or so on and so forth, it is the same. That, as the Savior told his disciples in the New Testament, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (Jn. 14:9) and it reminds me of Elder Holland's statement: "It is the grand truth that in all that Jesus came to say and do, including and especially in His atoning suffering and sacrifice, He was showing us who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children in every age and nation. In word and in deed Jesus was trying to reveal and make personal to us the true nature of His Father, our Father in Heaven." (Jeffrey R. Holland, The Grandeur of God, Oct. 2003 General Conference).
@Paul: Like
I really enjoyed this week's reading assignment. We are told in these chapters that both Nephi and Moroni will be with us at the "judgement bar". As it says in 2 Nephi..."I shall stand face to face before his bar". Just imagine standing "face to face" with our Savior, Nephi and Moroni. Sure makes me want to do better!
I came across a note in my scriptures on 2 Nephi 31:13 I would like to share with you. In 1992, I attended a youth conference at Camp LoMia and Hartman Rector was the keynote speaker. He referenced this scripture and then told a story about being in the Navy and not a member of the church and he admittedly had a problem with bad language. From the moment he entered the waters of baptism, he never swore again. He only speaks with the "tongue of angels"! Moral of the story...watch your language!
Susan Parker
Paul, I'm with you on the bit of confusion about which member of the godhead they are specifically referring to, but I don't think it's due to confusion on the part of the author. I was struck by 2 Nephi 25: 24-25 where he talks about keeping the law of Moses until the law be fulfilled in Christ. Although we sometimes call the church in every dispensation but ours the "primitive church," I think they had a more sophisticated grasp of the godhead and the plan of salvation than we do. Here's a prophet that saw the entire panorama of the human experience on earth. I think what a blessing it must have been to him to be an author of scripture--to be able to share that experience, even if only "on paper" to us, people he hadn't personally met. When we do have an opportunity to see Brother Nephi again, how wonderful that we will be able to pick up right where we left off--rejoicing in Christ and glorying in God's plan of happiness.
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