Of Reading and Home Teaching

Crap. I don’t know where I was going with this one. I’ll have to revisit the disinterment of PPP some time. Was he disintered? What the heck was I talking about?

I was shocked when I heard that there were some among my fellow students in my major at BYU that had not heard of Zelph.

Zelph! You know, the white righteous Lamanite warrior who was killed in the final battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites, and whose bones were found by those in Zion’s Camp while marching through Illinois. That Zelph.

I started writing this back in January 2009. I’m publishing it for the sake of having it out there even though it’s incomplete (not that I complete many of these posts. Whatever).

This weeks lesson is about the Book of Mormon. I’ll start by asking a simple enough question, what does the Lord have to say about the Book of Mormon in the Doctrine and Covenants?

• I find it interesting (and this is probably because I’m a geek, because it may not be interesting to many others) that when the Lord describes the purpose of the Book of Mormon in D&C 3:16-20, that He doesn’t just say it is to bring the remnant of the Lamanites and the Nephites to the knowledge of the Savior, but He distinctly mentions Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites. I wonder why this is. These distinctions are used (if my memory serves me well) only twice in the Book of Mormon itself. Hmm. But this question aside, the purpose of the preservation of the plates tells us a lot about what we should expect in reading the Book of Mormon. It should bring us to a knowledge of Christ; not just factual knowledge about the Savior, but we should know Him better by reading and abiding by its precepts. The Lord says that the Lamanites “may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name” (D&C 3:20). What is the gospel, and what does it mean to rely on the merits of Christ?
• D&C 5:18 says, “And their testimony shall also go forth unto the condemnation of this generation if they harden their hearts against them.” The Lord is referring to the testimony of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and the last word, “them,” is in reference to the Lord’s words (see v 16) specifically as found in the Book of Mormon. A discussion about this seems fruitless on the surface, why discuss the condemnation of those who reject the Book of Mormon? But on further consideration, there is something here that can yield good fruit: In what ways do we harden our hearts against the words of the Lord in the Book of Mormon? For a clue, see the next bullet.
• In a type of warning following the oath and covenant of the Priesthood, the Lord identifies a way in which members of the church might find themselves groaning under sin and darkness. To us He says, “And your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received– Which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnations resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written–That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom; otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion” (D&C 84:54-58). What way does the Lord identify that we harden our hearts against His words? Why would the Lord refer to the Book of Mormon as the new covenant?
• The Lord talks a little about the prayers of the Book of Mormon authors in D&C 10. How is knowing about their sacrifice to write the Book of Mormon motivating to us? Why is the sacrifice of others a motivation? Hmm. I’m not so sure I like this line of thought so much…

Simmons.

Mostly, anyway. And I’ve been enjoying it. A lot.

An unhealthy (maybe, or mostly) interest in something appeals to me. I guess because I’m kind of lazy and not willing to put the amount of time into something to become thoroughly obsessed with it. But others who are able to invest the amount of time and energy that it takes to become an expert in something, well, I like being the beneficiary of their efforts.

So, Simmons. The Sports Guy. I love his columns, and his two books didn’t disappoint.

That’s all.