Batyah

Showing posts with label Scriptures. Show all posts

Scripture Nerd.

So, tonight we had family home evening* at our Bishop's house. After the lesson was taught and much orchard-fresh apple crisp was consumed, most people began to make their ways home. My Bishop, however, happened to pull out his iPad and I proceeded to NERD. OUT. about different apps, printed materials and websites that aid in Scripture study, thus holding the last two remaining attendees hostage (because they were dependent upon me for a ride home).

My belief regarding studying the Scriptures is this: if I read something in the Scriptures - the word of God - and I don't understand it, I better make sure I take the time to understand it. Think of it! These pages have been passed down through thousands of years! People have made huge sacrifices to protect them! For you! And, of course, there's the promise that we will be held accountable for our own understandings of the words of the prophets.

That being said, I don't often really understand what I'm reading when I'm reading the Scriptures. Differences in place, time, cultural surroundings and word definitions stunt my ability to proximate what the prophets really meant when they wrote the words of God. And so I need tools to help me bridge the gap the aforementioned barriers create. There are a lot of them! I use them every day! Today, I want to share what they are. It didn't occur to me that not everyone has a knowledge of these resources until I got blank stares tonight when I mentioned Strong's Concordance.

A word of caution before I begin: while I have found these resources to be helpful, they are not infallible. The only way to discover the spiritual meanings of spiritual matters to rely upon the Holy Ghost to edify, uplift and inform.

RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET:

The website for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has an excellent set of digital Scriptures, complete with cross-referenced footnotes relevant passages found within the standard works. You can also find the expertly completed Bible Dictionary therein. (These resources are also available in print.)
BYU maintains an excellent website called the LDS Scripture Citation Index. The website cross-references all the Scriptures from the standard works to every General Conference talk ever, the Journal of Discourses, and writings in The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
The 1828 Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language is really an invaluable resource for coming to a closer proximity of an old (older) English meaning of a word. Why does this matter? The Lord enabled Joseph Smith to translate The Book of Mormon perfectly into the English of his day... but that's a problem because the English of Joseph Smith is not the English of today. (This is also available in print.)
For Biblical study (especially the KJV translation, which was published in 1611), there are some "King James Bible Dictionaries" out there, but most are heavily tainted doctrinally by the publishers thereby rendering them less useful to Latter-day Saints. The Oxford English Dictionary is really the way to go, as it lists not only current meanings, but also archaic meanings. (The bad news? It costs money. But! If you are a student, most libraries have subscriptions you can use for free!)
Sometimes, it's really helpful to view how different translators have translated a verse or passage. BibleStudyTools.com has made it really easy to view and compare individual verses in every conceivable translation.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is a magnum opus, wherein every Hebrew and Greek word in the Bible is assigned a number, which is defined and listed alongside every occurrence in the Bible for cross-referencing purposes. What's great about having this resource online is that you can search for individual words or words that are collocated as phrases (This is also available in print.)
While sometimes basic, the manuals produced by the Church have great, clarifying answers to confusing passages of Scripture. And! You can access them all free of charge through LDS Seminaries and Institutes.

RESOURCES FOR iPHONE/iPAD

The LDS Gospel Library is a great app, which is produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has all the footnotes, Bible Dictionary (both discussed above) and much more.

LDS Scripture Citation is the app version of the LDS Scripture Citation Index described above.

The 1828 Webster's Dictionary is available in app form. Due to the breadth of its volume (you don't need the internet to access the dictionary - it stores all of it on your phone/tablet), you need to download two volumes. The first here and the second here.

CWP-iStudent is a fantastic resource for having several Biblical translations on the go, including a Hebrew-Greek interlinear text and several (non-LDS) commentaries. By far my most used application for on-the-go studying.

Strong's Concordance is available (for free!) as an app as well.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I'll be walking to class tomorrow and think "GAH! I forgot XYZ-awesome-Scripture-study-tool! HOW DID I MISS THAT?!" If so, I'll edit this post to include the update. Do you have any that you would recommend?

*For those of you who are not Latter-day Saints, every Monday night there is a Church-wide policy of setting aside time to spend with our families - to grow together, to learn of Christ, to strengthen ourselves and our loved ones, etc. For those who are single adults and living away from their families, the Church organizes groups of other single members with whom to gather and participate in the aforementioned activities.

Stand All Amazed

I have several pots in the metaphorical fire, as it were, for upcoming posts. The topics are disparate, ranging from the world's obsession with Mormons and sex to the act of creation to "When Mormons go public..."

But today, I just want to share one quick (as quick as this verbose girl can get) thought. Then I will be off to classes.

When is the last time that you felt joy well up inside of you? True joy. Overflowing from your heart into your chest until you either have to laugh or cry because you can't contain it any further?

When is the last time you look at the world with the eyes of a child? Full of amazement, brimming with possibility?

When is the last time that you fell to your knees in gratitude? The gratitude being so strong that you couldn't stand...?

Maybe you feel these things in your own way. That is wonderful and beautiful and special. Don't trade it for anything that the world could offer you.

So often, I feel life overcome the me-centric thoughts and force me to turn outward, upward. I sometimes feel so sad that it seems so few around me walk so briskly through life to stand all amazed.

So today, my thoughts are this: Stand with me, dear sisters. Stand with me, my brothers. Pause in the swirling whirlwind of life for just a moment to see how beautiful the colors are as they pass by. Life isn't moving any slower, heavens no, but we certainly have the choice to watch it go whizzing by with joy, amazement and laughter. Even if just for a moment.

Life is meant to be enjoyed, for in joy we glorify our Heavenly Parents.

My greatest hope for each of you is that you might join Ammon in being swallowed up in the joy of God.*

Be Mine, I'm Yours

Happy Valentine's Day, party people! (Sorry I'm a day late. I've been a bit off my game since this past weekend. Long story.)

Can we just talk for a moment about how hilarious these candy hearts are? "He Fit, U Fat"?! "Return My CDs"?!?! Hilarious. The boy who gets me these will have my heart forever.

One of the things I love about Valentine's Day are those little candy hearts that taste like chalk and are virtually indestructible. Seriously. They'll be here with the rats after the nuclear holocaust. Sadly, I didn't get any candy hearts this year. I did however, see a whole display of them in the BYU Bookstore (whilst purchasing a few books...*cough* *cough* I'm totally addicted.) One of the boxes caught my eye. It featured two candy hearts: one that said "Be Mine" and another that said "I'm Yours." And it got me thinking.

Whose am I? Am I mine to give away?

Case in point, I was reading recently a new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism (which you can read in its entirety here). The translation was moving in the first question and answer:

I belong,
body and spirit,*
while I live and when I die,
not to myself
but to Jesus Christ
my faithful Savior.

Beautiful, right? But more importantly, doesn't it cast our relationship with Deity in just the right light?

I wonder sometimes if this is something we cognitively know, but don't necessarily believe through and through. If we did, wouldn't or actions be less autonomous? Wouldn't our actions reflect a little bit more recognition to our true ownership?

This brings up a larger issue that I think might often be misunderstood in the Scriptures. When dealing with Christ, His parables and the writings of His prophets, there is a lot of language with slavery imagery. That's a hard thing for we Latter-day Greeks to handle. We like freedom and sovereignty. We have a distaste in our mouths for slavery, and for good reason! However, I think this distaste affects how we read those Scriptures, instead of taking them as part of the culture in which they were given and instead of realizing that, while we have agency, we are not agents free of ties to Deity. The reality is that we are owned, we are purchased...regardless of whether we choose to believe such.

And there's a lot of beauty in that fact. In the ancient Near East, for example, a servant–meaning someone who was not owned, but was a free agent–could serve a family all day, every day of his or her life and still walk away at the end of their lives with nothing save the money that was due them. A slave, however, someone who may have had free will, but was not free of ownership, would often be adopted into the family. This slave, who had given his or her all and every effort to serve the family, would be adopted into the family and receive an inheritance alongside the rest of the patriarch's posterity. The slave would become a rightful heir to the patriarch's kingdom.

Such is the case with us.

But, today, we feel more comfortable with familial talk. So we largely ignore the verbs that imply purchasing and nouns that necessarily implicate us as slaves to a master. And, that's okay. But think about this: our earthly parents own us for life. We are theirs. So much so that we are sealed to them as theirs for eternity. Such is the case with our Heavenly Parents. We are Theirs and have been so stretching both ways into eternity.

I recently read a totally unrelated post on Segullah, which capped off with a beautiful paragraph about the care that our Father has for us. Catherine writes:

Our God is a sleepless God. He is vigilant. He is awake. He is inexhaustibly aware – even when things don’t appear to be going as planned. Even when the results leave us broken – so broken we wonder if we can ever be fixed. He is watching over us. For we are His.

The ownership that Deity has over us is should be of immense comfort. They watch over us with the care of a Father, Mother or Big Brother (I freely acknowledge that 'Big Brother' has a slightly creepy connotation, but you get what I'm saying, yes?). There is protection there. There is love.

But I wonder. I wonder if in this day, in the culture that we have cultivated, whether thinking of Deity in merely familial ties is sufficient. Do we truly realize how indebted we are? Are we cognizant each day of our absolute duty to uphold to these Caregivers? These Life-givers? I'm not sure that we do, partly because we don't realize it with our earthly families either.

Perhaps the point is this: Love God like a Father. Serve Him ~~like a slave~~ with a bit more indebtedness. In so doing, you will be ensured a place in the kingdom as one of His rightful heirs.

* "Spirit" here is my translation from the Latin, with a nod toward the understanding that we have from the Gospel about a soul being composed of a body and of a spirit. The original translation that I'm quoting read "body and soul."

I have been wrestling with the idea of limitations–from whence they come, their impact, the weight that they carry in our lives. The interesting thing about how I came to the conclusions to which I came is the fact that I was muddling through a few different lines of thought, without realizing that all three of them related to one another and that their linkage was the idea of limitations versus possibility. It made it all the more poignant when all three puzzles were summed up beautifully with the same conclusion.

I wrote a post late last year about the reservations that I have felt in moving forward with certain big decisions because they preclude some of the (really important) possibilities that might come my way in the meantime. I have since come to peace with that issue through a more perfect trust in my knowledge that, since my priorities are aligned in conjunction with my Heavenly Parents, I will be alright. But it got me thinking.

In one of my classes, we were discussing Alma's exhortation to experiment on the word in Alma 32. While we were talking about it, I started thinking about what goes wrong when an experiment fails. If I remember 8th grade science correctly, human error can be a major factor. But what does human error look like in a spiritual experiment?

Alma talks about needing to exercise a particle of faith. He also talks about the ground being barren. In this experiment of faith and belief, it seems that the human error is not giving place for the experiment to have success in the first place. More importantly, I would argue, is that we don't give the metaphorical soil enough nourishment. But what does that look like?

Certainly, many of us have contemplated the barren soil as being a perspective and attitude that is not willing to give even a particle of faith to the experiment. And that is valid. But what about the word enough? It doesn't mean that we haven't given it any nourishment. In the Scripture, the seed has already grown into a tree! It has leaves! It has roots! But it doesn't have enough nourishment to bear fruit. Could it be that this is a bigger, more relevant problem for Latter-day Saints than we give heed?

The quintessential question is this: Do our expectations of what is possible become limitations for what is possible in our lives? Alternatively, do we give enough room for God to work His mighty miracles in our lives? Is there enough room in my heart for Alma's tree to grow as tall and as healthy as is possible?

Could it be true that, unless we carve out the room for Father to show us what He can do, He can only do for us what we think He can do? If that's the case, then is it possible that too many Latter-day Saints are trees, with roots that go deep and leaves that are beautiful, but no or little joyous, miraculous fruit? Is it at all possible that if we were to lay down some of our expectations for our lives and our relationship with Deity, while still exercising the most perfect faith of which we are capable, the miracles wrought in our lives could be more grand and more undeniable?

Could we become unshakable in our faith because we gave Heavenly Father the room within us to tend mightier oaks?

Perhaps the punchline to all of it is simply this: that carving out room in our lives for God to really work His miracles requires real faith in the very nature of Deity. Real belief. Real fortitude. After all, it was Christ Himself who proclaimed, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible."

We Were Promised Sufferings

Last week in my Book of Mormon class, we discussed very briefly the idea of suffering as it related to the war chapters in Alma. It was a tangent really, and short-lived at that. It was just long enough, however, to get the cogs turning and get me thinking about suffering.

Christ suffered.* We suffer. That's a lot of suffering.

...And at first glance it doesn't really make sense why there is so much suffering. If Christ suffered for our sins, then why do we suffer for our sins?

I pondered this question a bit; I let it sit uncomfortably on my chest for a time. I went to the Scriptures. I found a lot of stories of suffering, but none of them answered my question. On Thursday, when I was driving up to Salt Lake to replace my dropped-in-the-toilet iPhone, a thought came to me:

Maybe Christ suffered for our sins, and we suffer only to the extent that it ~~helps us learn~~ forces us to learn. And if that is true, then a huge part of Christ's purpose in bringing us at-one with God is not about pain, but about learning and growing and becoming like Deity. And if that's the case, there are huge implications about how we should regard the Atonement...about how we should look at our own trials wherein we suffer.

It could change everything. It could make us more grateful for the opportunity to learn. It could give us more context for our pain. It could make us more willing to hand the pain part of suffering over to the Lord so that we can get on with the learning part of suffering.

Now, think about this passage from Doctrine and Covenants:

For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I. (D&C 19:16–17)

*It is extremely important to me to explain here, for the record, that I treasure my understanding that the suffering part of Christ's Atonement is just one small part of it–that His mission included experiencing our joys as well as our pains, so that we might rejoice together at the last day. Sometimes, I think, we focus too much on the doom and gloom of the Gospel–on the sins, the betrayals, the condemnation, the suffering–without also taking real and profound joy in the Good News that the Gospel was, is and will be.

Since the very first time I read the Book of Mormon–before I even made the decision to be baptized–I have made space in my heart for the words of Nephi found in 2 Nephi 4. So, yesterday, when I was in the exam room waiting for the doctor to come in and see me, I flipped the Book of Mormon sitting on the top of the stack of magazines (how weird is that?!) open to just that book of Scripture.

I started reading Nephi's beautiful psalm to the Lord and came to this part:

And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul?

So, there I was. Feeling so strongly and understanding more deeply than ever my body's weaknesses. My mortality's limitations. I felt the yielding of my body due to the flesh, but keenly understood that my spirit was still imbued with fortitude...that even though my body is weak, the choice was still mine–will always be mine–to be strong in spirit.

In all of these years of loving these words and of memorizing these words, I finally heard them. I finally let Nephi speak to me. "Why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations?"

Faith: Harnessing the Divinity Within You

Below is an excerpt from a final paper I wrote for my Book of Mormon class that just ended yesterday. I haven't been able to get these words out of my head, and I'm hoping that sharing them here might affect change in both my life and yours.

The theme of faith is a major doctrine of not simply the third chapter of Ether, but also the entire Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. We learn much about faith, for example, from Alma 32 or Helaman 8. In Ether 3, however, the message of faith is shared in a way that is somewhat more unique and explicit than found elsewhere in the standard works; restated another way, the doctrines of faith found in Ether 3 have the power to become a key in unlocking great truths regarding faith. In the pericope at hand, there are two methods with which one can learn on the topic of faith; first, there are explicit statements made by the Lord on the subject and, second, the brother of Jared’s actions exemplify faith and its true ability to enable. As the passages with explicit reference to faith are quite plain, much time will be spent examining the actions of the brother of Jared.

             Figure 2. Actions Requiring Faith

Verse 1

The brother of Jared prepares to ask the Lord to touch the stones by making the stones before the request

Verse 2

The brother of Jared calling unto the Lord, according to commandment

Verse 3

The brother of Jared asking that the Lord would take pity and touch the stones

Verse 4

The expressing that the Lord “hast all power”

Verse 4

The brother of Jared’s belief that the mere touching of the stones by the Lord would illuminate them

Verse 6

The falling down of the brother of Jared before the Lord, showing that he believes He is Lord

Verse 6

The fact that the brother of Jared can see the finger of the Lord at all

Verse 12

The brother of Jared declaring that he does believe the words of the Lord

Verse 13

The Lord showing Himself to the brother of Jared

Verse 19

The brother of Jared has such exceeding faith as to convert belief to knowledge

Verse 20

The brother of Jared is so filled with faith that he cannot be kept without the veil

(Verse 22)

(The brother of Jared will need to have faith to follow the commandment given him by the Lord

(Verse 23)

(The future prophet who is given to finding the Jaredite text and Urim and Thummim will need to believe in the power of the Urim and Thummim to use them)

            As seen in figure 2 to the left, many, if not all, of the actions that occur (or that will occur at a future time a designated by the text) require at their very core a foundation of faith on the part of the protagonist. The brother of Jared displays ample faith in both thought–meaning that the very way in which he thinks indicates that
his faith is sure–and action. Indeed, the brother of Jared’s actions in the chapter would seem irrational at best were they not founded upon the faith that the Lord would
both 1) care and 2) respond, on top of the fact that they assume that there is a being called the Lord in the first place.
            To demonstrate that the brother of Jared’s faith was integral to his entire thought process, let us play out the scenario that takes place in Ether 3:1. In Ether 2:23, the Lord commands the brother of Jared to propose a solution to the imposing problem that there was to be a lack of light in the vessels that the Lord commanded the Jaredites to fashion. The methodology of thought as well as the solution that the brother of Jared decides to pursue are both indicative of his faith in the Lord. If the brother of Jared did not believe–truly believe–that the Lord was real and that His love for men was indeed factual, then he would have been wasting his time forming the stones in the first place. If the brother of Jared’s underlying assumption was not that the Lord loves His people, then he would not have even considered the idea that the stones would give light plausible in the first place. Rather, he would have relied more heavily on his own abilities and means to create light.
            Faith to this exceeding degree calls to mind the Lectures on Faith, which aid the reader in grasping the almost tangible faith of the brother of Jared. His faith echoes the teachings of Joseph Smith concerning faith in that faith first and foremost requires a sure knowledge of God. In verse 2 of the fourth lecture in The Lectures on Faith, Smith writes “for without the idea of the existence of the attributes which belong to God the minds of men could not have power to exercise faith in him.”[1] In Ether 3, we see this to the be the case. The brother of Jared approaches the Lord with stones, asking Him to illuminate them, and then proceeds to testify of his knowledge of the very nature of God Himself. The brother of Jared testifies of his absolute knowledge that the Lord has all power, that He is merciful unto the sons of men.
            The punch line in this pericope, however, is not that the brother of Jared has faith, but that the faith of the brother of Jared has imbued in it inherent power. Faith is the elementary principle of action and it is according to the degree of our faith that we are able to harness the power of heaven–the very power of God of which the brother of Jared speaks, which is subject to our own divine nature and the mercy of God–and affect change in the mortal sphere. Indeed, referring back to The Lectures on Faith, we see that
every man received according to his faith–according as his faith was, so were his blessings and privileges; and nothing was withheld from him when his faith was sufficient to receive it. He could stop the mouths of lions, quench the violence of fire, escape the edge of the sword, wax valiant in fight, and put to flight the armies of the aliens; women could, by their faith, receive their dead children to life again; in a word, there was nothing impossible with them who had faith. All things were in subjection to the Former-day Saints, according as their faith was.[2]

Indeed, in other scriptures we see this same principle at play if only we are careful in our readings: “O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ;”[3] “If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me;”[4] "Remember that without faith you can do nothing.”
            With this in mind, we must ask ourselves, what implications does this understanding of faith have for Latter-day Saints? If Latter-day Saints first recognized this truth and then incorporated it into their most basic assumptions so that it changed their every thought, we Latter-day Saints would be a much more powerful people. We would increase exponentially our ability to live our lives in a way that truly reflects the knowledge that has been bestowed upon us–that we are children of God, that we were born with a divine spark, that with faith we can move mountains, that our Heavenly Parents have invested in us power and divinity beyond measure. In thereby doing, we would obtain the promise asserted in The Lectures on Faith, that faith “gives to the minds of the Latter-day Saints the same power and authority to exercise faith in God which the Former-day Saints had…for the exercise of faith was, is, and ever will be, the same; so that all men have had, and will have, an equal privilege.”[5]

[1] Joseph Smith, The Lectures on Faith: Delivered to the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio 1834–1835.
[2] Joseph Smith, The Lectures on Faith: Delivered to the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio 1834–1835, 7^th Lecture, verse 17. Emphasis added.
[3] Alma 14:26. Emphasis added.
[4] Moroni 7:33. Emphasis added.
[5] Joseph Smith, The Lectures on Faith: Delivered to the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio 1834–1835, 4^th Lecture, verse 19.

What do you think?

"There's More to Life Than Increasing Its Speed"

Before I begin, let me just say that we should all anticipate the usage of the Leonardo DaVinci quote used by President Uchtdorf in this morning session to skyrocket. It's exciting, really, like Twitter trending, only in real life.

That being said, I was particularly touched by President Uchtdorf's remarks this morning. I don't think that I have ever felt quite so understood and...cared for...by a General Authority. There are many quotes that undoubtedly will be pulled from his talk and become part of the Mormon working vernacular, and I don't intend to regurgitate them here. Before I launch into my thoughts, though, if you haven't had the chance to watch the Saturday morning session, feel free to view it below. President Uchtdorf's remarks begin around 1 hour, 11 minutes.

This talk is perhaps the best thing that I could have heard at the very moment that I did. Imagine this: I was sitting in the Harold B. Lee Library (still don't have the internet, folks), watching the session, taking notes on the remarks, setting up my Skype account, downloading podcasts and fretting about my ORCA grant application. And then on comes President Uchtdorf saying, "Lauren, what are you doing to yourself?" Feeling duly admonished, I stopped and began to focus on his remarks.

I didn't understand the broader significance and impact until later on in the evening. As I drove on the freeway watching the peach-colored sun lower onto the horizon behind the blue-grey silhouette of the mountains, I began to think about the recent changes in my life. I toyed with President Uchtdorf's words in my head, finally becoming cognizant of the fact that I haven't been particularly gentle with myself throughout my recent transition. I have had the go, go, go mentality so destructive to our fulfillment. And it isn't just that I've been overbooking myself.

Before I launch into a description of what I mean, I want to preface a bit. The very fabric of my being resonates with the truth that I am where I need to be, doing what I need to be doing. I have found great joy and peace here in Provo...but joy and peace are very different from being carefree and blithe. The barriers to that standard? I'm not unhappy by any means - in fact quite the opposite. Mostly, I am just exhausted with an exhaustion (shout out to paronomasia!) that goes much deeper than a few all-nighters.

So, here's what I learned from President Uchtdorf: I have failed to realize that the minutiae - the details that flesh out my life - are, at this moment in time, much more difficult than is normally the case. I haven't yet cemented the foundations of stability; I have no routine, with which I do so well. Even the small, insignificant building blocks of my new life are heavy and require much more effort. But, I have been speeding full-steam ahead acting as though I had been living this life for years, not weeks. When nothing is easy - when every action is weighty, even running errands - the human mind becomes exhausted much more thoroughly.

I'm determined to become more like that tree discussed at the onset of his remarks. I am going to put a hold my (metaphorical) horizontal and vertical growth until these roots I have been trying to plant grow a bit more deeply. I'll be more forgiving with myself when I feel as though I can't give any more to this day, and this task, and this people, and my own future.

But wait a second, what does this have to do with flying a plane?

Priceless Quote

So, I'm in the midst of studying for the most major test of what is by far my most overwhelming class. I, therefore, should not be fiddling with my blog.

And yet, here I am.

Just a quick quote, from a professor who shall remain nameless, but on whom I have a serious Gospel crush:

"Joseph [Speaking of Joseph of Egypt] was far and away the most conceited prophet in the Bible. Really! He should have just keep his mouth shut, but, no. He had to tell all of his brothers that they were going to bow down to him. Arrogant, conceited prick."

Scripture Nerd.

Stand All Amazed

Be Mine, I'm Yours

Creating Room for Possibility

We Were Promised Sufferings

Weak Body, Strong Spirit

Faith: Harnessing the Divinity Within You

Downgrading Doctrine

The Plan of Salvation Through Greek and Hebrew Lenses

LDS Covenantal Responsibilities

The Symbolism of Lehi's Family Structure

"There's More to Life Than Increasing Its Speed"

Priceless Quote

About Me

Figure 2. Actions Requiring Faith
Verse 1	The brother of Jared prepares to ask the Lord to touch the stones by making the stones before the request
Verse 2	The brother of Jared calling unto the Lord, according to commandment
Verse 3	The brother of Jared asking that the Lord would take pity and touch the stones
Verse 4	The expressing that the Lord “hast all power”
Verse 4	The brother of Jared’s belief that the mere touching of the stones by the Lord would illuminate them
Verse 6	The falling down of the brother of Jared before the Lord, showing that he believes He is Lord
Verse 6	The fact that the brother of Jared can see the finger of the Lord at all
Verse 12	The brother of Jared declaring that he does believe the words of the Lord
Verse 13	The Lord showing Himself to the brother of Jared
Verse 19	The brother of Jared has such exceeding faith as to convert belief to knowledge
Verse 20	The brother of Jared is so filled with faith that he cannot be kept without the veil
(Verse 22)	(The brother of Jared will need to have faith to follow the commandment given him by the Lord
(Verse 23)	(The future prophet who is given to finding the Jaredite text and Urim and Thummim will need to believe in the power of the Urim and Thummim to use them)