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.
Hey Everyone I'm doing it again--I have a long comment. I will try to shorten these, but I thought about it, so I'm posting.
#1 I love to ballroom dance. When taking classes at BYU, learning a new dance step was nearly impossible without first seeing a teacher or superior dancer perform the move in front of me so I could model my footwork based on their example. In a similar vein, this week’s Book of Mormon study gave me a view of how those who have successfully become Zion people reached that high goal. By watching their expert moves and trying to mimic their steps, I hope I can better prepare for citizenship in Zion—that country or kingdom that is rules by the Lord and whose membership is entirely made up of the pure in heart. In my study I watched 3 experts show me the way: First were the intense efforts of King Benjamin to teach and prepare his people (WoM 1:18; Mosiah chp 1-5) to be a Zion people, second were the successful Zion people who lived in Enoch’s city Zion that was translated (Moses 6-8), and third were the Zion-like Nephites who experienced 200 years of peace following Christ’s visit (4Ne 1). By comparing these groups of people who “have the moves down” I noticed a few things (3 things specifically) that they did to be successful Zion-ese people:
1. Unity—Enoch’s Zion people were “of one heart and one mind” (Moses 7:18). What does this mean to me? It makes sense to me that people of many personalities and talents do not have to assimilate like the Star Trek borg in order to ‘be one’, but simply need to have 1 subject in which they are all unified and focused.
The account of the Nephite Zion people gives me a clue as to what the focus could be: “they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God”. The subject upon which we can and must all be one is Christ. For the Nephite Zion people, they were successfully unified as we see there was “no contention in the land because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people” and that there were no more outsiders, “neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of ‘ites” (4Ne 1:15-17).
This was something King Benjamin was shooting for as well. It seems that the opposite of unified hearts (motivations) and minds (thoughts) would be people focused on different motives and different thoughts and goals and purposes. Christ is the unifying purpose and motive and thought that can put all differences behind us. In scripture study I saw King Benjamin working for this unity by teaching of how we need to rely on Christ—it was the first subject he really taught (following his final accounting of his kingly responsibilities to his people). Christ was the focus of all of Chapter 3 and when he “made an end of speaking” about Christ “ they all cried aloud with one voice, saying; O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ…for we believe in Jesus Christ” (Mos 4:1-2). Sounds like his hard work resulted in a successful teaching experience—so successful that his people were unified in their cries/prayers.
2. Righteousness— Following their declaration that they believed in Christ, King Benjamin encouraged his people to change their behaviors to the paths of personal obedience and righteousness. He told them that they could be righteous and retain a remission of their sins day to day and always rejoice if they 1) always remembered how good God has been to them (like we do during the sacrament); 2) praying humbly and daily; and 3) “watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words and your deeds” (Mos 4: 11, 12, 30).
Similarly, Enoch’s Zion people “dwelt in righteousness (Moses 7:18) and the Nephite Zion people were so individually righteous and filled with faith that they received “all manner of miracles” both of healing the deaf and lame and blind and even raising the dead (4Ne 1:5). Thus, not only were all the parts unified, but each individual part was autonomously pure.
3. Consecrated goods—Enoch’s people had “no poor among them” (Moses 7:18) and the Nephites had “all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor” (4Ne 1:3). Sharing and giving also seem to be a big part of the lifestyle and culture of Zion. King Benjamin seemed to know this as well because it was his next topic (after unity and righteousness). He counseled his people to feed the poor and clothe the naked, and warned that failure to do so was at the expense of their own remission of sins. Pretty hefty principle when you start tying our ability to progress to adherence to giving. King Benjamin warned them that a Zion people do not say of the poor “The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand…”. Rather he said that such an attitude “hath no interest in the kingdom of God”. He brought up the wonderful point that “are we not all beggars” reminding us that the attitude of the Savior toward us in our sins, of which many we bring upon ourselves, is one of love and longsuffering as we grow and become better. That is the attitude of Zion—sharing, loving, and longsuffering with the poor. We have been told in the D&C (39:13, 97:21) to build Zion in our day and among our people and in our own hearts. Like a big dance number, it is both an individual and a group endeavor. When I look at the Zion people who successfully mastered this dance (King Benjamin, Enoch, and the Nephites after Christ’s), I have renewed motivation to improve my moves. Right now the new moves are to focus on Christ with my ward (like with this Book of Mormon challenge), to improve personal spirituality, and to have eyes that see the poor and their needs.
4 comments:
Hey Everyone I'm doing it again--I have a long comment. I will try to shorten these, but I thought about it, so I'm posting.
#1
I love to ballroom dance. When taking classes at BYU, learning a new dance step was nearly impossible without first seeing a teacher or superior dancer perform the move in front of me so I could model my footwork based on their example. In a similar vein, this week’s Book of Mormon study gave me a view of how those who have successfully become Zion people reached that high goal. By watching their expert moves and trying to mimic their steps, I hope I can better prepare for citizenship in Zion—that country or kingdom that is rules by the Lord and whose membership is entirely made up of the pure in heart. In my study I watched 3 experts show me the way: First were the intense efforts of King Benjamin to teach and prepare his people (WoM 1:18; Mosiah chp 1-5) to be a Zion people, second were the successful Zion people who lived in Enoch’s city Zion that was translated (Moses 6-8), and third were the Zion-like Nephites who experienced 200 years of peace following Christ’s visit (4Ne 1). By comparing these groups of people who “have the moves down” I noticed a few things (3 things specifically) that they did to be successful Zion-ese people:
#2
1. Unity—Enoch’s Zion people were “of one heart and one mind” (Moses 7:18). What does this mean to me? It makes sense to me that people of many personalities and talents do not have to assimilate like the Star Trek borg in order to ‘be one’, but simply need to have 1 subject in which they are all unified and focused.
The account of the Nephite Zion people gives me a clue as to what the focus could be: “they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God”. The subject upon which we can and must all be one is Christ. For the Nephite Zion people, they were successfully unified as we see there was “no contention in the land because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people” and that there were no more outsiders, “neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of ‘ites” (4Ne 1:15-17).
This was something King Benjamin was shooting for as well. It seems that the opposite of unified hearts (motivations) and minds (thoughts) would be people focused on different motives and different thoughts and goals and purposes. Christ is the unifying purpose and motive and thought that can put all differences behind us. In scripture study I saw King Benjamin working for this unity by teaching of how we need to rely on Christ—it was the first subject he really taught (following his final accounting of his kingly responsibilities to his people). Christ was the focus of all of Chapter 3 and when he “made an end of speaking” about Christ “ they all cried aloud with one voice, saying; O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ…for we believe in Jesus Christ” (Mos 4:1-2). Sounds like his hard work resulted in a successful teaching experience—so successful that his people were unified in their cries/prayers.
#3
2. Righteousness— Following their declaration that they believed in Christ, King Benjamin encouraged his people to change their behaviors to the paths of personal obedience and righteousness. He told them that they could be righteous and retain a remission of their sins day to day and always rejoice if they 1) always remembered how good God has been to them (like we do during the sacrament); 2) praying humbly and daily; and 3) “watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words and your deeds” (Mos 4: 11, 12, 30).
Similarly, Enoch’s Zion people “dwelt in righteousness (Moses 7:18) and the Nephite Zion people were so individually righteous and filled with faith that they received “all manner of miracles” both of healing the deaf and lame and blind and even raising the dead (4Ne 1:5). Thus, not only were all the parts unified, but each individual part was autonomously pure.
3. Consecrated goods—Enoch’s people had “no poor among them” (Moses 7:18) and the Nephites had “all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor” (4Ne 1:3). Sharing and giving also seem to be a big part of the lifestyle and culture of Zion. King Benjamin seemed to know this as well because it was his next topic (after unity and righteousness). He counseled his people to feed the poor and clothe the naked, and warned that failure to do so was at the expense of their own remission of sins. Pretty hefty principle when you start tying our ability to progress to adherence to giving. King Benjamin warned them that a Zion people do not say of the poor “The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand…”. Rather he said that such an attitude “hath no interest in the kingdom of God”. He brought up the wonderful point that “are we not all beggars” reminding us that the attitude of the Savior toward us in our sins, of which many we bring upon ourselves, is one of love and longsuffering as we grow and become better. That is the attitude of Zion—sharing, loving, and longsuffering with the poor.
We have been told in the D&C (39:13, 97:21) to build Zion in our day and among our people and in our own hearts. Like a big dance number, it is both an individual and a group endeavor. When I look at the Zion people who successfully mastered this dance (King Benjamin, Enoch, and the Nephites after Christ’s), I have renewed motivation to improve my moves. Right now the new moves are to focus on Christ with my ward (like with this Book of Mormon challenge), to improve personal spirituality, and to have eyes that see the poor and their needs.
Borg comments are really taking this BOM challenge to the next level. In a good way, I mean.
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