Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome. Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4). This priority was not only reflecte...
A big part of what makes God God is His integrity. In all cases he does what he says, and has the power to bring about his promises. As Isaiah described, "The Lord of Hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand ... For the Lord of Hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" (2 Nephi 24:24, 27). God's greatest desire for His children is that they progress to become like Him. By extension He invites us to aspire to His level of integrity.
A man or woman of integrity fulfills what he or she promises, and demonstrates consistency between thoughts, words, and actions. Unfortunately, I can think of many instances where I have let promptings fall by the wayside, overcommitted when I was not really willing, abandoned a righteous goal, or failed to act on a virtuous impulse. These are challenges that God has overcome, and he invites us to use the power of Christ's atonement to become unchanging and reliable.
The membrane between what we think and what we can have/do/be is being thinned by technology. For better or for worse, in important matters and in trivial matters, we are more able to realize the desires of our heart, and we can do so more quickly than ever before. We are even able to meddle with powers as fundamental as life and death, and God seems willing to tolerate our participation in how the world and our lives takes shape. I think of friends who have had emergency C-sections that 100 years ago would have certainly died in childbirth, leaving their husbands widowers. I think of my grandparents who were carried beyond their natural lifespans by the assistance of medical technology. These possibilities and choices fundamentally changed the kind of mortal experience they had (I wold argue for the better). We can dye our hair blue or have our gender surgically reassigned, find ancestral records on our smart phones, or order pizza to our door right now, none of which was possible in the 1850s.
These developments pose some new challenges, and open vast worlds of possibility to God's children. The question for us is how can we purify our desires, and more consistently bring to pass the good things that fill our thoughts.
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