Not sure how I’ve never heard this poem before, but today I was struck by the similarity between Joseph Smith’s encounter with Moroni and James Henry Leigh Hunt’s poem Abou Ben Adhem (published in England in 1834): Read the rest of this entry »

As I continue to ponder 2 Nephi 2, I’m wondering about this line in v.4:
thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory
What is it that Jacob has beheld, and what does it mean to behold it? What actually is the glory of God? Read the rest of this entry »

2nd Nephi 2 is one of the most quoted chapters in the Book of Mormon. Seminary students can quote passages about opposition in all things, and Adam falling that men might be. I think many Latter-day Saints find it profound or beautiful or comforting. But I’ve been reading it every day for the past week, and have decided I pretty much don’t understand any of it! Read the rest of this entry »

February 16th is one of my favorite days, the anniversary of “The Vision” of the three degrees of glory given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon now recorded in Doctrine & Covenants 76.

We cherish this section of scripture, and teach about the three degrees of glory in our missionary discussions, though it seems like we rarely actually read “The Vision” itself. What do we really find when we “feast upon” D&C 76? Read the rest of this entry »

As the discussion leader for this chapter, I suppose I should stand ignorantly at the door, pushing you through to enter and explore with no escape from exercising your liberty, all the while asking each of you what do you see? What do you think about it? What do you make of it?

I’ll try to do that, but as for myself, I found this chapter a great adventure, Read the rest of this entry »

What are we to make of the creation accounts given to us in Genesis and Latter-day scripture? Do they call us to reject scientific findings about our 4.54 billion year old planet and 3.8 billion year evolutionary history of life on earth? Read the rest of this entry »

Since this is the time of year we sing about angels coming to proclaim joy to the world, maybe it’s a good time to ask what we really know about joy? Read the rest of this entry »

Our quorum discussion on this one only made it through two quotes. Most of our time was taken by a discussion of the Wilford Woodruff quote that states “…the Prophet of God was administered to by the angels of heaven. They were his teachers, they were his instructors, and all that he did, and all that he performed from the commencement, from that day to the day of his martyrdom, was by the revelation of Jesus Christ”.

We didn’t get much further because we spent most of our time talking about angels. Read the rest of this entry »

We read a bit about the sealing power of the priesthood in scriptures such as Hel. 10: 7

Behold, I give unto you apower, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people.

The ability to seal ordinances and other earthly acts in heaven seems to be an essential aspect of priesthood.

So what are we to make of Satan’s ability to seal as reported in Alma 34: 35? Read the rest of this entry »

In my current read through of the Book of Mormon, I’m increasingly struck by how “posterity focused” the Nephite patriarchs and prophets are. The whole enterprise of writing on the plates, of course, only makes sense in light of the huge pains they take to preserve the gospel covenants for their posterity. Nephi agonizes about his posterity in vision. Jacob pleads for them. Enos begs for the records to be preserved for them. It is interesting to contrast that focus with our own cares and concerns. My guess is that we seldom worry about our distant posterity like the Nephites did. Why is that? Why don’t we seek to know what will befall our posterity, and pray for them? Is it that we just assume that they will be faithful and blessed in some future Millennial day? How can we even relate to the hopes and aspirations of the Nephite patriarchs? And, to threadjack my own post, are we really fulfilling their expectations of us as regarding their posterity?