Language. My language has changed. I use to be very cerebral and dealt with things in a quasi-intellectual manner: logic; deduction; inference; reason; rationale; etc.; etc.; etc. By personal revelation I have learned that I was missing a whole dimension to “language.” A “complementary” style of communication has been given to me through a quasi-spiritual manner: feeling; inspiration; discernment; empathy; compassion; etc.; etc.; etc. “The bestest communicators and the bestest instructors utilize both.” It is the “heart” and “mind” paradigm. To put it simply, Kim, teach by the Spirit and don’t get caught up worrying about “Christian rivalry” or perceptions. Heavenly Father’s Spirit knows the needs and message that will promote the best outcome for participants.

1.) The entire lesson seems more or less organized around the three points that President Smith thinks Latter-day Saints are uniquely positioned to understand: the Savior’s “divine mission,” that he is the Son of God, and that “at the present time he is enthroned in glory” (22). In fact, all of page 23 neatly follows this outline. The first paragraph identifies Jesus’ divine mission, the second and third reiterate that he was the Son of God, and the fourth paragraph attests his resurrection and exaltation. The second section (“We accept the Bible’s testimony of the divine mission of Jesus Christ”) again emphasizes his mission, followed by further emphasis on his divinity in the section “The Book of Mormon and the testimony of Joseph Smith give us additional evidence of Christ’s divinity.” The vast majority of what President Smith says in this lesson fits topically into one of those three categories.

2.) I’m struck that the lesson is called “Our testimony of Jesus Christ,” as opposed to something like “Gaining a personal testimony of the Savior.” The way President Smith talks about the Latter-day Saints’ belief in the Savior makes me wonder about the general idea of collective testimony, and what its LDS content might look like.
I’m also strongly inclined to take this lesson in the direction of how our testimony ought to parallel and dialogue with other Christians’, while steering clear of the “are-Mormons-Christians” debate. The lesson opens with a story about this question precisely–how “outsiders” view Mormonism, specifically regarding their testimony of Jesus. My personal feeling is that we Mormons have a lot to learn from fellow Christians about grace and sharing the gospel. Is there a way to make that a productive discussion without it falling into some sort of Christian rivalry?

3.) There’s a strong emphasis in this lesson on Jesus’ divinity. He “was more than a good man” (23) despite those who have “desired to rob Him of the divinity of His birth” (25). I wonder how much of this emphasis comes from the intellectual trends of President Smith’s day. Was this a more pervasive idea back then? I’m also interested in why President Smith identifies LDS as particularly privileged in this regard: “there are no other people in all the world who have all the information that we have with reference to the divinity of the Savior” (29). It strikes me as interesting that the Book of Mormon (as discussed on 25-26) and the temple endowment depict Christ as exalted and all-powerful, whereas the Gospels portray a Savior who is much more down-to-earth. Is this why Mormons see Christ as more transcendent than other Christians do? It’s not uncommon for me to see Facebook statuses from my Christian friends thanking Jesus for being such a good friend, taking a personal interest in their lives, helping them with daily challenges, etc. Mormons don’t do that. Could it be because our (unique) scripture begins from the standpoint of an exalted Jesus? And if this is an accurate portrayal, of course, what do we make of it?

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Lehi sees Satan as “a devil” in verse 17 because Satan “sought that which was evil before God.” Whereas Satan becomes “the devil” in verse 18 only after he “sought also the misery of all mankind.” To me there seems to be a big difference between these two things. The transformation of Satan seems to happen when his hatred expands from God to that of all creation. Maybe nobody has ever hated creation as a whole as much as Satan?

Honestly, now that I read that line back to myself, I am not sure if I like it or not. I probably should have omitted it so I am glad that you pointed it out. The line is very unclear. That comment had to do with my D&C 88:123-25 commentary. I see those verses as contrasting covetousness with charity. Perhaps I can flesh out that section a bit more here.

In those verses, love is described as being clothed with “the bond of charity.” That bond of charity is something that we take upon ourselves. However, that bond does not stay with us; it extends to those around us. If we truly are clothed with the bond of charity then we will treat other accordingly. In other words, we will take our gifts given from God and share them with other.

In 88:123 it says to “learn to impart one to another as the gospel requires.” He or she that has true love/charity will know when it is the right time to give and to take. That person will be able to do both graciously due to being clothed with the bonds of charity. If we are part of this bond we might take the gifts given from others as much as we gift to others.

Alternatively, covetousness only receives, it never gives back. Covetousness only looks forward to what it could have, never to what it could give. Covetousness is never thankful and never gives back.

Liked your post. Can you expand a bit more on what you said: “If charity is taking, covetousness is only receiving.” Why is charity linked to taking?
Thanks.

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Thanks for commenting, and again feel free to share your thoughts at Beginnings New as well!

Enjoy the lesson notes as always. One question about the following statement:

” it seems clear that “the temporal law” is meant to be understood as the word given by God to Adam and Eve in the Garden”

This doesn’t seem to work well with D&C 29:34-35 where the Lord states that he has never given man temporal laws.

Thoughts?

1. When we are humble we are willing to submit ourselves to God’s will and we trust in him that, “all things work together for good, to them that love God…” Romans 8:28 And for those that truly love God, they will love their fellowman and want to bless the lives of others, which is harmonious with the purpose of the God, “To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Moses 1:39. Like Lehi’s reaction to the vision he saw. He immediatly looked around for his family and wanted them to come and partake of the love of God. When we are humble like this, we can recognize relevation for what it is since it directs us to server others and do good for those around us. In Moroni 7 we learn that all things that are good come from God. It is a truly humble person who will receive promptings and act upon them to bless the lives of others with, seemingly, receiving no benefit to themselves. The humble person has no regard for their personal comforts but is only interested in helping others see and understand the Plan of Salvation. In other words, they are Christ-like. This is the way He lived His life, with complete disregard for himself and only a concern for others. When we are in this frame of mind, and the challenge we have in this life is to constantly put off the natural man which encourages us to follow the teachings of Korihor and look out for ourselves, we can see and understand the will of the Lord and the thoughts, impressions, feelings that we have are those that are in harmony with the will of the Lord, or in other words, are from the Holy Ghost.

2. Another aspect of humility to consider is that this attribute will not only lead us to do good to others, but will allow us to develop trust and faith in God. We see that this life is full of temporary moments of pleasure, and while these are not all bad, they are not the end or the purpose of our existence and by being humble and trusting in the Lord we will see that He has so much more for us as long as we do not put our trust or efforts in the joys of this world. Therefore we can then do as Moroni says, and “pray with real intent”, i.e., with a full commitment to doing what it is that Heavenly Father will have for us to do. Think of Parley P. Pratt and his reaction to reading the Book of Mormon. Think of Brigham Young and his reaction to receiving direction from Joseph Smith. Think of so many other honest seekers of truth who are willing to alter, chang, and give up all that they possess (meaning temporally, spirituall, and emotionally) in pursuit of the truth and/or the will of God. When this state of humilty is reached, I think it becomes clear that a persons motivation is to do the will of the Lord and therefore their thoughts, impressions, feelings are inspired.

Thank you once again…a great topic and a very interesting talk.

That is well said Prometheus, and certainly something worth thinking about more—thank you!

This has been my experience, for sure. The more I have let go of asking for what I think I need, and the more I have embraced simple communion, the more powerful and frequent have been my experiences. I really believe that, based on my readings of unity throughout the scriptures, we may be missing the mark if we don’t see continuous communion with Deity as the highest form of revelation, rather than visions and such.

Great post – a lot more in there to think about – I am going to have to go back and reread that conference talk. Thanks!

And here’s the link to the Class Member Study Guide: http://www.lds.org/manual/book-of-mormon-class-member-study-guide?lang=eng

Also, if you go to this link you will find various people’s notes on the lessons for the Book of Mormon: http://feastupontheword.org/Site:SS_lessons#Book_of_Mormon_lessons

We wish you the best, and if you need any further help, don’t hesitate to ask.

I also really loved the the idea of opposition being the thing that makes agency possible – so simple, so central to Lehi’s discourse, and yet I had never seen it before,

It also occurred to me, according to my understanding of salvation and the atonement being a return to full unity with God and each other, that death (separation) makes it impossible – no resurrection means not just a lack of time to perfect our relationships, but no permanent relationships at all, which would surely defeat the work of God.

Wow, I found a lot of other things besides that that I want to think about more (this in particular: “What Christ’s self-offering calls for is a parallel self-offering.” – this is really powerful).

I am so enjoying and looking forward to this journey! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.

It is really important and a huge doctrinal step for the people of Lehi to actually have the long view–”the eternal perspective” and treat the Atonement and Resurrection as a thing that has happened *because it was granted from the foundation of the world* to all. It affects their whole cultural development and “gospel culture.” How can we approach the Atonement in the same way for ourselves? How can we see ourselves sitting down with Christ, accepting that it could apply to us as well. Now, if we would let it.

I really, really like this blog. My husband introduced me to it. It is deeper than appropriate for my GD class (IMO) but I find it to really enhance my background reading and study as I prepare to teach (even if I don’t agree with all the blog posts). Thanks for your work.