Nephi's last farewell (2 Nephi 33)

Good Sabbath (today is Sunday), and welcome to the last chapter of 2nd Nephi, and the last words of a great man.  In 2 Ne 33, Nephi ends his life's work by bearing testimony that what he's been teaching since he was young and large in stature was the truth, and have been the words of Jesus Christ.  

Nephi experienced a lot of stuff in his life.  Remember that time his brothers tried to kill him?  Oh, and that other time his brothers tried to kill him.  Then there was that other time his brothers tried to kill him.  But, along with his trials of swollen wrists, broken bows, starving family members, stormy oceans and having to eat raw meat in the wilderness, Nephi had some pretty sweet moments.

• He witnessed a vision of the Mother of The Savior being big with child
• He witnessed a vision of the life, baptism, ministry and atoning sacrifice of Christ
• He witnessed a vision of the visit of the resurrected Savior to Nephi's descendants in the land Bountiful
• He witnessed a vision of Columbus sailing the ocean blue, the Mayflower bringing the pilgrims to Plymouth Rock, the Revolutionary War, the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that gospel being brought back to his posterity
• He witnessed a vision of our day

I wonder if Nephi felt a tinge (just of tinge) of envy when he saw how we can communicate today with computers and iPads and stuff instead of carving on plates.  Then again, I don't think an iPad would have lasted the 1400 years between Moroni and Joseph Smith.

Anywayz....  a scripture or 2 from chapter 33.  Watch for how much Nephi loves his people, how much he loves the Savior, and how much hope he has for his posterity.

I like that, "If ye believe not in these words, believe in Christ; and if ye believe in Christ ye shall believe in these words."  Personally, I believe Nephi spoke the words of Christ.

Next, on to Nephi's little brother, Jacob.  He's a little more stern than his big brother, but at least he speaks French.

Thanks for stopping by... Peace be with you...

Don't Forget To Pray (2 Nephi 32)

I uttered my first prayer when I was about 5 or 6 years old.  I didn't quite know how to pray, as I recall, but I knew some words that seemed to make me feel good.  Words like "Bible", "God", "Mary", "Joseph" and "Gospel".  I would say these words out loud to myself before I went to sleep. Sometimes memories from childhood can be a bit sketchy, but I really believe that saying those words aloud made me feel better.  They had a calming effect.  And I remember feeling less afraid of the dark.

Saying those words, Bible, Gospel, God, Mary and Joseph, may not have been the most eloquent prayer ever uttered, but God answers all sincere prayers, even if we don't know what to say to Him. Prayer brings light where there was darkness, and hope where there was fear.

2 Nephi 32: 8-9

Chapter 32 in 2nd Nephi is a shorty, but a goody.  It's really worth the read.  Verses 8 and 9 really stand out to me because they are yellow have helped me to pray many times, even when I didn't feel like it, or worse, didn't feel I like I was worthy enough to speak to Him.   According to Nephi's calculations, if you feel like not praying, or feel like you shouldn't pray, or feel like The Lord doesn't want to hear from you today, those dark thoughts aren't coming from a very reliable source.

Story Time!!!

This is actually a fairly long story, and I've most likely already used it in a previous post, so I'm going to brief-a-tize it.  While serving a mission for The Church in Oxford, Ohio in 19 & 88, mein kampf & I had tracted a road about 5 miles out of town.  It was a long road and it was a hot day, and it was dark by the time we got back to our apartment.  Upon discovering that we had lost our tracting record, and, therefore, had no way of knowing who had asked us to come back and who had thrown us out, we decided we'd better ride our bikes the 5 miles back to where we knew we last had it.  On the way out there were faint remnants of light on the horizon, but on the way back it was completely dark.

Imagine the picture above, but without the headlight on, that's what it looked like.  We rode our bikes in the center of the road with our eyes looking down.  We could barely make out the road directly beneath us, but nothing in front of us.  All the sudden both of us darted to the side of the road at the same time.  Just as we did so, a vehicle sped passed us with no lights on.  Didn't see it coming; didn't hear it coming.  We didn't know it was coming until it past us.  The only light on it was the license plate light.  Why we both darted to the right at the same time remains a mystery to us, but not to The Lord.

Then there was the dog

Riding by a farm, we were chased by a dog.  Imagine the photo above, but with all the lights turned out.  I could here the dog's feet hitting the road, and I could hear the dog's breathing growls, but couldn't see where he was.  Now, that freaked me out.  Was I scared?  You are speaking with someone who has laughed in the face of death -- sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.  I was petrified.

Well, what did you do????

At that scary moment in the dark I prayed.  A song jumped into my head and I started to sing it to myself. Peace came to me.  The dark wasn't so dark anymore.  And, best of all, I was still alive and in possession of both of my pant legs.

The Song:  Ere You Left Your Room This Morning

LDS Hymn Book, pp 140

Please pray if you meet the following conditions:

• You are perfect
• You aren't perfect
• You are worthy to speak to Him
• You are not worthy to speak to Him
• You are repentant
• You are not repentant
• You feel like praying
• You don't feel like praying
• Everything is going wonderful
• Nothing is going right
• You are basking in the life-giving light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• You are crying inside the darkest abyss with nowhere to turn
• Or anywhere in between.  

Prayer really does change the night to day.
Don't forget to pray.

Peace be with you...
jb

The Plain Doctrine of Christ (2 Nephi 31)

These last few chapters of 2nd Nephi are some of my very favorites.  Last week year we talked about 2nd Nephi 30, in the which Nephi made a bunch of prophesies about our day, and what would happen to both Jew and Gentile.  In Chapter 31 it's as if Nephi puts down his prepared lesson and just speaks from his heart.

After spending days and days reading his favorite Isaiah scriptures to his people, and seeing their reaction...

... Nephi breaks it down to the plain Doctrine of Christ.  For his soul delighteth in plainness.  So let's talk about what Nephi really wants us to get out of all of his teachings.

First:  Baptism is essential to salvation

In order to enter into the Kingdom of God, a person must be baptized by an authorized Priesthood holder.  Exceptions to this commandment include children who have not reached the age of accountability (8 years old) and those who are disabled to the degree that they are also unaccountable.

I was baptized when I was 8 years old, sometime in November of 1974.  My dad was an inactive member of the church, and did not hold the proper Priesthood Authority, so he couldn't baptize me.  Some guy named Bro. Lowe happened to be in the font and already wet from baptizing his son, Mark, so he did the dunking.  In The Church we are baptized by immersion, so when my big toe stuck out of the water, I had to be baptized again.  There went the toe again.  Third time's the charm;  Bro. Lowe planted his foot on my foot, and was able to put me all the way under the water.  Whew! I was finally clean from all those sins I'd accumulated since my birthday on November 9th.  I don't remember how many there were, but I'm glad they're gone.

So, since we know that Jesus Christ was completely without sin, did he need to be baptized?  Is baptism just for cleansing our sins, or is there more to it than that?

                 Verse 7 

Christ was baptized not for His past mistakes, but as an act of obedience, and a covenant that He would always be obedient.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost is essential to salvation

After baptism, baptismees are confirmed a member of The Church, and are given the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, also by one holding the proper Priesthood authority.  I have zero memory of my confirmation, but I'm sure it looked something like the photo above (except I'm a dude).

 

Where baptism cleanses us from sin, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, or the baptism of fire, sanctifies us, and makes us (or has the potential to make us) holy.  And this "speaking with the tongue of angels" thing and this "shouting praises unto the Holy One of Israel" thing, I think that means that once we receive the Holy Ghost, and the witness of Christ and His Gospel that follows those who sincerely seek it, the Holy Ghost will testify to others when you testify of Him.  Anywayz, that's what I think.

Repentance is essential for salvation

I'm kinda going outta order here, but next in the chapter is Repentance.  To repent means to turn away from bad junk, and turn toward God.  Most definitely a person sincerely repenting must ask Heavenly Father for forgiveness, but even more important than that is what comes next.  Which leads me to...

Enduring to the End is essential for salvation

The word "enduring" conjures up images of marathons and summits of high mountains.  It seems to connote (one of my favorite words) hardship and suffering.  I like how President Monson puts it much better.  Enduring to the End to me is less about always choosing the right, no matter how hard the rain falls, and more about daily repentance, no matter how hard I fall.

And lastly (but really firstly)...

Faith in The Lord Jesus Christ is essential for salvation

So, there you have it, the Doctrine of Christ.  To sum it up in JB-ese...

• Have Faith in Jesus Christ
• Repent and follow Jesus Christ
• Covenant to be obedient to Jesus Christ through baptism and other ordinances
• If you fail, start over
• Rely alone on the merits of Jesus Christ; He is mighty to save

The End.  I'll see you next year time.


Peace be with you

The Chosen People of the Lord (2 Nephi 30)

Do any of you (maybe I should cross out 'any of', since it implies that more than one person is reading this) remember this book or movie?  The Chosen -by Chaim Potok  I had to watch the movie for an assignment back in High School.  As I recall, it was a rich and rewarding film, and extraordinarily satisfying.

Did you catch my trickiness there?

Actually I don't remember it at all, except Robby Benson is in it, he had cool sideburns, and it's about Orthodox Jews in New York City.  The title The Chosen refers to God's chosen people.  Is there one chosen people or person?

Is it the Jews?

Is it Harry James Potter?

Is it Anakin Skywalker?

Maybe it's one of them, or Frodo Baggins?

The Old Testament has some verses that help us find out who The Lord's chosen people are.  One of them is this one from our old pal, Isaiah.

Isaiah 41: 8-9

While it is true that scriptural references to "The Chosen People", or in the case of 2 Nephi 30, the "Covenant People", refer to the house of Israel, don't let that go to your head & cause you undue pride (if you are of the House of Israel) or weigh you down with the everlasting chains of discombobulation (if you are not of the House of Israel).  Today's chapter deals with that difficulty.

2 Nephi 30: 2

So, there you have it.  Whether you're Jew or Gentile, Bond or Free, White, Black, Brown or Green, whether you're from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica or Mars, in order to become one of the Lord's covenant people, each of us needs to come to Jesus Christ; come to know Him; come to trust in Him; come and partake of His forgiving Atonement, and be healed in both body and spirit. 

In other words, in order to be part of the Lord's Chosen people, it ain't so much a question of He choosing us, as it is us choosing Him.  And those who have chosen Him, and become His Chosen, will experience real peace.  Apparently, someday, we'll even get to pal around with Lions and snakes and stuff, and not have to worry about their sliminess or razor sharp claws.  That'll be cool.

1 Nephi 30: 8, 12-15

If you're like me (and who wouldn't like me?), you can maybe figure out that an Asp is a snake, specifically, a cobra, like the ones on the crowns of the Pharaohs of Egypt.

Cockatrice is a little harder to figure out.  Wikipedia says a cockatrice is a 1/2 rooster, 1/2 dragon sort of creature (My "hoo-haw" bell just went off).  But, our good buddy Isaiah, in Isaiah 14:29, uses the word cockatrice in the same context as the fiery serpents that The Lord plagued the Israelites with.  Remember the story in Numbers 21: 5-9?  Because of the wickedness of the Chosen people of Israel, Moses was commanded to put up a big, brass bed serpent on a pole, and anyone who'd been bitten would die, unless they looked at the snake statue. 

Not to be confused with...

That's pretty cool, actually, So our sucking children will be able to play with poisonous snakes, and our weaned teeny boppers will not have to worry about any plagues sent by The Lord because of sinful behavior.

And key to it all...

Because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of The Lord, as the waters cover the sea.  

Peace be with you...

I Already Have a Bible (2 Nephi 29)

The Bible

There are those who believe that The Bible is the Word of God, there are those who do not believe The Bible is the Word of God, and there are those who don't know and/or care if it is or ain't His Word.  Count me in as one of them believers.  I believe The Bible contains the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and is filled with historical and personal accounts of ancient prophets, apostles and believers, and their teachings and dealings with Heaven.  Well, I guess they're not all "believers".  An old Seminary Teacher I had once warned us that...

The Bible contains the words of God, men and the devil, so be sure you know who's speaking to you...

...or something like that anyway.  Good advice, I think.  There's an untrue story of a fella who needed to know what direction he should go in life, so he let his Bible fall open and looked at the first verse that his finger landed on...

And Judas went and hung himself

then flipped to another...

Go thou and do likewise

Anywayz...

I have had the opportunity to teach Seminary and Sunday School classes on The Bible, and have had my heart touched and my testimony of Jesus Christ deepened and strengthened by doing so.  I love Isaiah's messages of the coming Messiah.  I love Paul's personal insight into the mercy and love of The Savior.  I love John's understanding of the Atonement when he said, "We love Him, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)  And I love reading of the life and miracles of The Savior in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
  

Nowhere else can we actually walk where Jesus walked...

 

Sit with Him in His temple...

 

Listen at His feet as He teaches the Way, the Truth and the Life...

Even watch His agony while His Apostles slept...

We can be there at the tomb when it was discovered empty, and we can be there when the resurrected Christ says so affectionately to a chosen daughter of God, "Mary."

 

I do love The Bible, and I appreciate very much the sacrifices of the men and women who made it possible for me to have one, in English.  Lot of 'em died trying to get the Word of God into the hands of His people.  I watched a documentary on this subject a while back.  It was a tragic and heroic tale, and an important history to learn. It was called Fires of Faith.

This blog deals mainly with The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  The chapter I am on today is 2 Nephi 29, which talks about whether the BOM will be accepted by a people who already have The Bible.

Some people believe The Book of Mormon to be the Word of God.  Some people do not believe the BOM is the Word of God.  Others don't know or don't care if it is or ain't.  Count me in as one of them believers.  I believe The Book of Mormon contains the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and is filled with historical and personal accounts of ancient prophets, apostles, believers and unbelievers, and their teachings and dealings with Heaven.

Both The Bible and the The Book of Mormon are recorded writings of ancient prophets, apostles and believers.  Some prophets from The Bible include Moses, Isaiah, Malachi, Peter, Matthew, Paul and Christ Himself.  Some of the prophets from the BOM include Lehi, Nephi, Mosiah, Alma, Mormon, Moroni, and Christ Himself when He visited the Nephites shortly after His death and resurrection.

Just a couple of verses from 2 Nephi 29 and I'll close up shop here.  Remember, Nephi is at death's door, and is giving a few last teachings before he buys the farm.  In speaking of the coming forth of The Book of Mormon, which he was writing this in at the time, Nephi warns that people will reject The Book of Mormon on the grounds that there can be only one book that contains the Word of God.

2 Nephi 29 

3.  And because My words shall hiss forth -many of the Gentiles shall say:  A Bible!  We have got a Bible, and there cannot be anymore Bible.

8.  Wherefore, murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of My word?  Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another?  Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another.  And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.

12.  For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.

13.  And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.

14.  ... and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against My word and against My people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.

The Bible and The Book of Mormon are the Word of God, and contain the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know this through the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Ghost, by whom The Book of Mormon testifies "we may know the truth of all things."

You can know for yourself.  Pray.  Ask Him.  Life doesn't have to be such a mystery...

The Book of Mormon; Moroni: 10: 3-5

Peace be with you...