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Posts Tagged ‘scripture study’

Lehi, King Benjamin, and President Monson On Why We Follow the Prophet

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , , on April 7, 2013 |

It happened again last night, and not for the first time: I re-read a familiar section in the Book of Mormon and noticed something that had never arrested my attention before.

In King Benjamin’s classic speech, a major landmark in the Book of Mormon, he tells the people this about the the coming change of leadership from himself to his son:

…if ye shall keep the commandments of my son, or the commandments of God which shall be delivered unto you by him, ye shall prosper in the land…  (Mosiah 2:31, emphasis added)

Benjamin wasn’t the only Book of Mormon leader to teach about the reason for faithfully following the prophet; Lehi explained it twice:

And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord. (1 Nephi 3:5, emphasis added)

And it must needs be that the power of God must be with him, even unto his commanding you that ye must obey. But behold, it was not he, but it was the Spirit of the Lord which was in him, which opened his mouth to utterance that he could not shut it. (2 Nephi 1:27, emphasis added)

Nephi’s brothers, you may remember, resented being ordered around, against their natural inclinations, by a bunch of old white men in Salt Lake City…oops, I mean, by their younger brother.  (/sarcasm)

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Serve From Gratitude

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , , on April 7, 2013 |

Near the end of a truly rousing, inspirational sermon, the Biblical prophet Samuel tells his congregation:

Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.  1 Samuel 12:24

This has now become one of my favorite scriptures.  Why?  because it explicitly links our faithful obedience to God and our work in His service, to gratitude for all of the infinite blessings that have first been poured out on us.

I actually think that the “thankfulness-leads-to-devotion” relationship is pretty rarely articulated in the scriptures.  The next best one that I can think of comes from the New Testament:

We love him, because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

It’s good to be reminded of this.  God has shown us great love, and always will.  Obedient discipleship is the least we can do in return; indeed, is precisely the one thing that He does ask of us:

And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?  Deuteronomy 10:12-13

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The Five Missions In the Scriptures

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , , on December 9, 2012 |

A scripture study exercise: if we wanted to summarize the overall message of major collections of scripture, what might they be?  We’re probably familiar with the “missions of the Church” formula–preach the gospel, perfect the saints, redeem the dead, care for the poor and needy–so, can we find similar missions communicated in books of scripture?

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, with comments below:

 

Old Testament : Obey the law

New Testament : Perfect the saints

Book of Mormon : Learn the gospel

Doctrine and Covenants : Build the kingdom

Pearl of Great Price : Seek the Lord

 

Old Testament: I also considered “keep the commandments” and “follow the prophets.”  The first is similar to “obey the law,” but not as inclusive–there’s more to the Old Testament than the “thous shalts” and “thou shalt nots.”  Saying to “follow the prophets” resonates with us today, and certainly encompasses a major theme, but the largest idea in the Old Testament is that conforming to God’s whole system of living will bless us.

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Does the Atonement Have Masculine and Feminine Halves?

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , on March 11, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Latter-day Saints typically see the Atonement of Christ as comprising the suffering in Gethsemane as well as the crucifixion.  I’ve been wondering if there’s some kind of duality implied by the contrasting details in these two halves.  Consider the following chart, giving some details from Jesus Christ’s suffering in the garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Golgotha:

Gethsemane

Golgotha
Night Day
Private Public
Introverted/Psychic Emotional Suffering Extroverted/Physical Violent Torture
Primary instrument = liquid (bleeding) Primary instrument = solid (cross)
Inside of a garden On top of a hill
Cyclical narrative Linear narrative

Is it a coincidence that the circumstances of Gethsemane are stereotypically feminine, and the circumstances at Golgotha are essentially masculine?  (more…)

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What Was the Mark of the Curse in the Book of Mormon?

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 6, 2012 | 11 Comments »

A comment on a news article last week called the Book of Mormon racist because of its references to dark skin in conjunction with a curse.  I responded with the usual explanation: the curse is spiritual separation from God (2 Nephi 5:20), and the dark skin was just a useful way to distinguish those who’d been cursed.  However, the more I looked at what I’d written, the less satisfied I was.  I felt like I was missing something.  I went back to the text.

I don’t think the Book of Mormon references to dark skin are literal anymore; I think they’re only a poetic idiom.  Subsequently, I now have a different theory for what the mark of the curse really was.

The Controversial Verses

First, look at the relevant text.  There are three passages in the Book of Mormon that specifically mention dark skin as the mark of a curse (in 2 Nephi 5, Jacob 3, and Alma 3), and a fourth that bears on them (3 Nephi 2).  Here are the most controversial verses:

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How Scripture Study Counteracts the Negative Effects of Sensory Overload

Posted in Religion, tagged , , on February 12, 2012 |

From a great essay at  Segullah:

Input always travels the path of least resistance. So the second time we see the new image, it will travel the same route. And before long, the new neural pathway has been stimulated enough to “desire” of itself continued activation. A habit is born.

After that, when the brain is not currently occupied, we long for that image. That is why we constantly check our phones or email. That is why, when we have a free moment, we click onto a favorite blog, check facebook, and tweets, or any other source of input we frequent. Without realizing it, we have begun to crave these places of input, hunger for them, to the point where they can surreptitiously dominate our time.

Tina said the only way to counterbalance this is with ancient and modern scripture. We must expose our brains repeatedly to the image or sound of God’s words. Printed, glowing on the page, read aloud, or discussed with friends. That is where God’s Spirit lives. It is where His mind and will can rise out of the texts we read or the conversations we share, and filter into our lives, allowing revelation to move through us.

And the money quote: “The battle today, between Babylon and Zion, is being waged between the synapses of our brains.”

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Chiasmus in Helaman 13:29-39

Posted in Language and Literature, Religion, tagged , , , , , , on June 5, 2011 | 4 Comments »

In studying the Book of Mormon, it seems that everybody and his brother is familiar with chiasmus, that Hebraic form of poetry where key words and phrases in the first half of a text are repeated backwards in the second half, done to aid memorization, to signify a whole unit of thought, and, especially, to emphasize the central turning point. 

With all the many excellent examples of the technique that the Book of Mormon offers, one of my favorites is usually overlooked: Helaman 13:29-39. 

The most notable work on such parallelisms in the Book of Mormon, Donald W. Parry’s The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted According to Parallelistic Patterns, does not mention chiasmus in this section.  However, in A New Witness For Christ, a similar work by the late H. Clay Gorton, an amateur Book of Mormon enthusiast, I found an arrangement of these verses that is very close to mine. 

In Helaman 13:29-39, Samuel the Lamanite has been lambasting the grossly apostate people of a city.  Throughout the first segment of the sermon, he chastises them for their materialism, and for their related rejection of the prophets.  After the patient, factual, even dry recounting of their rebellion in most of Helaman 13, in verses 29-39 Samuel lets loose with a passionate lament, wailing over their wasteful path towards self-destruction due to their own willful blindness.  Those verses form a discrete unit of the sermon, and a compelling chiasm. 

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Role Models From the Early Life of Christ

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 16, 2011 |

I drafted this chart based on some of our discussion in Sunday School today.  We studied the birth and early life of Jesus Christ (mostly from Luke 2), and found basic patterns in the lives of those involved in that period, setting clear themes and models for us to follow in our own devotion to the Lord:

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The Pattern Of Our Spiritual Journey

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2010 | 4 Comments »

I’ve been reading James Ferrell’s The Hidden Christ, which is extremely excellent, and I just read chapter 19, “The Dispensation’s of the Lord’s People,” where he gives a chiastic chart of Earth’s history.  It’s very good, and it reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about for a month or so, since my wife and I had a discussion about what the Earth will be like after the Second Coming. 

That got me to researching, and some things clicked with me.  Below are some notes I’ve been putting together about these thoughts.  They represent my attempt to put some doctrinal concepts in a recognizable pattern, and it strongly emphasizes the role of Jesus Christ.  In fact, looking at our spiritual journey this way adds a powerful dimension to our understanding that, through the Atonement, Christ “descended below all things.”  We can see here that, literally, his suffering and distance from the Father were absolutely beyond even the worst of mankind’s experience.  It was also, again quite literally, the ultimate turning point in history. 

The only thing that confused me at first was the idea that, if Eden and the Millennium are Christ’s domain, then how could the Father also be present in the Garden of Eden?  I soon realized that God may go anywhere He wishes; it is we who are limited by veils and sin.  After all, didn’t both the Father and the Son appear personally to Joseph Smith in this fallen, telestial world?  Joseph Smith had to be transfigured for that to be possible, and I suppose Adam and Eve must have enjoyed a similar experience, in their innocent and immortal state, to behold the Father in the Garden. 

On a slightly less spiritual note, this map also highlights an aspect of good storytelling, which has also been on my mind lately.  I often think that basic story patterns are essentially encoded into us (think of Campbell’s Hero With a Thousand Faces, as well as the fondness for using elemental stories to resonate with us in the scriptures and temple), and one of the most fundamental aspects of good story is that the hero must face a daunting, scary setback in the middle, even suffering a literal descent.  Think here of Odysseus going down to Hades, the discouraging tones of The Two Towers and The Empire Strikes Back (each the middle of an epic), or the predictable fight that the lovers must have in the middle of every romantic comedy, before they reconcile and reunite (sappy, but also another Atonement-centered device). 

Most of the “insights” on this chart aren’t very original, but I enjoyed drawing it up to see these things together in graphic form for the first time.  This is only a rough draft, and any refinement to it is welcome.  Click to enlarge. 

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Mission Statements For The Scriptures

Posted in Religion, tagged , on November 14, 2010 |

I’ve been wondering how one could best summarize the overall “mission” of major collections of scripture, in the vein of “preach the gospel” or “perfect the saints.”  Of course, this is just a novelty exercise on my part, and in no way does justice to the power of scripture or, for that matter, mission statements (which were mildly criticized at yesterday’s Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, anyway). 

Still, here are the best of my ideas so far.  This is really just a silly thing that I haven’t put a whole ton of effort into, so feel free to offer better ideas.  Ultimately, I suppose any volume of scripture’s mission would best be summarized as “bring souls to Christ,” but I guess the point of this is to focus on sub-missions supporting that one!

Old Testament: Obey the law

New Testament: Serve the Lord

Book of Mormon: Learn the gospel

Doctrine and Covenants: Build the church

Pearl of Great Price: Follow the prophet

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The Right Thing, At the Right Time, For the Right Reason

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , on July 6, 2010 |

This phrase came to mind as a title for this post as I thought about its practical application.  Two weeks ago our Gospel Doctrine class in church covered the fall of King David.  As much as this dramatic tragedy is studied throughout the world, the part of this story that resonates most meaningfully to me is a tiny detail near the beginning that is rarely mentioned.  I haven’t seen it in any manual, and I’ve only ever heard it in one lesson, but it’s stuck with me for many years. 

David was a special, powerful, favored man of God, yet he ended up an adulterer and a murderer.  How did this happen?  Where did his slide begin?  The first verse of the story, 2 Samuel 11:1, tells us. 

And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.  But David tarried still at Jerusalem.  (emphasis added)

It’s hard not to read that editorial note of disapproval in the last part.  Until this point, nothing negative is shown of David; afterwards, it’s all downhill.  This is where the tragedy started.  David was supposed to attend a meeting of kings, but instead sent servants.  He took a day off and hung around in Jerusalem.  While he was indulging in playing hooky from work, he saw Bathsheba, and I think we all know where things from there. 

The lesson for us is pretty clear: sins of omission, such as skipping meetings or other mundane routines of the disciple’s life, are the beginning of a downhill spiral into destruction.  David didn’t go from being a prophet to a pervert overnight; it started with a refusal to carry out a simple obligation of regular duty. 

May we be warned. 

NOTE: I stand corrected.  I just looked this verse up at the wonderful scripture study site at BYU, and found that this verse was used to teach this principle by Neal A. Maxwell in 2001:

There are so many ways to keep the shielding seventh commandment firmly in place. Instructively, for instance, David’s fall, at least in part, was facilitated because he was not where duty lay: “It came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, … David tarried still at Jerusalem” ( 2 Sam. 11:1). Then, as you know, came the lustful view from the roof and all the sadness that followed. Implicit, therefore, in the instruction “Stand ye in holy places” is to avoid indulgent tarrying ( D&C 87:8; see also Matt. 24:15).

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The Condensed Book of Mormon, In 15 Verses

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , on April 23, 2010 | 10 Comments »

Today I read the most amazing blog post, courtesy of our friends at First Thoughts.  A seminarian named Sarah Wilson thought to abbreviate the Bible by selecting just one representative verse from each book, resulting in a breathtaking tour through the highlights of scripture.  Her method was basically to find the verse in each book that best represented the majority of the material.  Please read it here.

What a great exercise!

My own first thought was to adapt her list for an LDS audience, but I quickly saw that that was pointless.  I already agree with virtually all of her choices.  Truly, she has a solid grasp of the text, and has produced a universally valuable list.

I wanted to do the same for the Book of Mormon.

My selections are below, with notes on my reasoning at the bottom:

1 Nephi “And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.” 1:20

2 Nephi “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” 25:26

Jacob “Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds.” 2:35

Enos “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.” 1:4

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Two Great Resources On The Atonement

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , on April 4, 2010 |

During this morning’s session of General Conference, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Twelve Apostles spoke about applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives and improving our understanding of it; he said near the end of his talk that we should all “establish a personal study plan to better understand that Atonement.” 

Two things that I’ve read came quickly to mind.  The first is the chapter called “Atonement” from Jeffrey R. Holland’s book, Christ and the New Covenant, which is one of the best books on the Book of Mormon that I’ve ever read.  This one chapter is about 50 pages long, and is a supremely comprehensive yet readable analysis of what the Book of Mormon teaches about the Savior’s atoning sacrifice.  Sadly, this work isn’t available online, but it’s available fairly cheaply from Amazon. 

The other thing I’d recommend is the last chapter of Hugh Nibley’s book, Approaching Zion, called, “The Meaning of the Atonement.”  This is available online here, and explores the symbolism and spiritual significance of the Atonement, from multiple perspectives. 

I’ll read through both of these as soon as possible as a start, and see where my study can go from there.

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The Purpose of Astronomy In the Book of Abraham

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , , on January 24, 2010 | 2 Comments »

This post is not meant to explain the many astronomical references in the Book of Abraham.  I’m not a scientist; I’m an English teacher.  My interest is in analyzing why those astronomical references are there: what function do they serve?  After studying them, I find that they consistently testify of the doctrines of Christ.

The Pearl of Great Price itself is a fascinating text, and ironic.  By far the smallest of the standard works, this tiny anthology is not a series of testimonies, a record of covenants, or a detailed collection of exegesis and exhortations, like most other scriptural works are.  No, The Pearl of Great Price is far too ambitious for that.  Just about the only thing it does is reveal the most important saving truths of eternity, connecting us directly to the Lord. 

Consider that the Bible Dictionary identifies seven major dispensations throughout world history: those begun by Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith.  Now glance through The Pearl of Great Price and notice whose records it amplifies: in order–Moses, Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith.  

Consider that in the Doctrines of the Gospel manual for church classes, the Pearl of Great Price, which comprises less than 2½% of the standard works (61 out of 2475 pages), represents about 10% of the scriptures cited in the index (nearly a whole page out of nine and a half printed pages), an impressively disproportionate total.  If The Pearl of Great Price were a basketball player, it’d be one foot tall and five times better than Michael Jordan. 

I labor this point because it relates directly to the use of astronomical information in The Pearl of Great Price’s Book of Abraham.  These often confusing ideas about space and time are not a primer for astronomy as much as they are meant to add to our understanding of those massive spiritual truths with which this volume was designed to enlighten us.

First, in Abraham 3:12-13, God shows Abraham an expansive vision of the physical universe (more…)

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Answering Alma’s Questions

Posted in Religion, tagged , , , , , on January 1, 2010 | 6 Comments »

For a long time I’ve wanted to go through the 50 questions that Alma put forth in Alma chapter 5 in order to spur people back into spiritual activity, and answer them based on where I’m at in life.  I feel like I’m active and serious in my faith, but I know that I have a long way to go, and a lot of improvments to make both in my “spotlessness from the world” and in my discipleship.  I hope this exercise helps, and I’ve created a starter to-do list at the end based on my answers.  I can see these being good spiritual goals for 2010.  The chart I filled in is found here. 

I’ll “liken the scriptures” to myself by picturing the current prophet, Thomas S. Monson, asking these questions, in place of the ancient prophet Alma.  When he mentions my ancestors and other prophets, I’ll think of the pioneers and Church history. 

#

Verse in Alma 5

Remembering God’s Acts for His People
1.  6 Have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers [or the LDS pioneers] ?  Probably not sufficiently.  Learning more about them and doing more to remind myself, more often, of their suffering and sacrifices would surely do me good.
2.  6 Have you sufficiently retained in remembrance God’s mercy and long-suffering towards your fathers?  Again, I’m aware of it, but I could stand to refer to this in my study and prayer more often. 
3.  6 Have you sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?  Not yet.
4.  8 Were your fathers destroyed?  No.
5.  9 Were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled your fathers about, were they loosed?  Yes. 
#

Knowing the Essential Logic of the Gospel
6.  10 On what conditions were your fathers saved?  Their faithfulness to the commandments and covenants they’d made. 
7.  10 On what grounds had they to hope for salvation?  The grace and mercy of God, through the power of the Atonement; through His promises about His role in the covenant.
8.  10 What is the cause of your fathers’ being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?  A combination of my answers to the last two questions!
9. 11 Did not my father Alma  [or any other modern prophet] believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi [or any earlier modern prophet] ?  Yes, our prophets are definitely role models of faithfulness.
10. 11 Was Abinadi not a holy prophet?  Indeed, prophets are great guides for us.
11. 11 Did Abinadi not speak the words of God?  Yes, he did.
12. 11 Did my father Alma believe them?  Yes, he did.
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Being Personally Converted
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