Skip to main content

9 - 15 Mar - Learn With Joy and Not With Sorrow - Jacob 1 - 4

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...
1 comment

Mosiah 6 - The Names of All Those Who Had Entered into a Covenant


After his people had covenanted with God, King Benjamin made a record and set us a system to help support them in their decision. "King Benjamin thought it was expedient ... that he should take the names of all those who had entered into a covenant with God to keep his commandments" (Mosiah 6:1). There are a number of places in the scriptures, particularly in the Old Testament, where prophets list their genealogy. I have always been puzzled by these passages and still am not quite sure what I am supposed to take away from these passages and how they are supposed to help me draw closer to God. The best I have come up with so far is that God is teaching me a meta-lesson about the importance of record keeping. 

 The church keeps many records, and creates and maintains a record for each member of the church. Surely God knows who we are and does not need our name to be on a list or in a database in order for Him to be mindful of us. So why are membership records important? King Benjamin give a clue in one of the other actions he took after his address. He "also had appointed priests to teach the people, that thereby they might hear and know the commandments of God, and to stir them up in remembrance of the oath which they had made" (Mosiah 6:3). He created an organization of teachers to help instruct and encourage his people. 

 Not only was King Benjamin leveraging the power of social motivation, he instituted a system that was transformative by design. If I have a running partner and I make plans to meet them on Saturday at 6:30, I am much more likely to exercise on a rainy morning. Similarly, the structure and organization of the church is designed to nudge us to keep the commandments and grow closer to God. Even more than that, as we participate in this organization, we have many opportunities to practice love, forgiveness, patience, communication, and sacrifice. The same is even more true within our marriages and homes. We are meant to learn on each other's time, and the structure of church and family give us opportunities to grow. 
Application Questions

 How has the organization and sociality of the church helped and changed you? If you do not participate in an organized religion, what do you do in your life to influence others and be influenced by them for good?


 Image Credit: famicity

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mosiah 16 - Speaking of Things to Come as Though They Had Already Come

Abinidi explains how Christ's atonement heals and redeems the righteous, while the wicked remain in their sins to be judged. The remarkable thing to me about Abinidi's teachings, and the teachings of all the Book of Mormon prophets who lived before Christ, is their level of conviction in what where, at the time, future events. Christ had not come yet. They looked forward to the ministry and atonement of Christ and were fully persuaded of its reality and the eternal impact it would have. It is hard enough to believe in Christ and follow His teachings after the fact, even with records of His life, and hundreds of millions of people who share a belief in Christ's divinity. But all that Abinidi and other prophets of his time had were their own revelations and inspiration from the Spirit.  Abinidi also alludes to Christ's own faith saying, "now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there coul...
Post a Comment
Read more

1 Nephi 17 - That I May Find Ore to Molten, That I May Make Tools

Nephi is given the daunting task of constructing a ship to carry his family across the ocean. Like Nephi, the Lord asks us to do things that are beyond our current knowledge and ability with a promise that he will help us: "And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them ( 1 Nephi 17:3 ) From the experience of Nephi and his family, we can also see that the Lord grants us joy in our trials and certainty in his direction when we follow his commandments. When Nephi and his family reached the seashore, a brief respite before crossing the ocean, they enjoyed the break and celebrated their progress: "Notwithstanding we had suffered many afflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful, because of its m...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Nephi 12 - Let Us Go up to the Mountain of the Lord

One of my favorite things about living in Taiwan has been trail running. Just outside the city, about 20 minutes from my house, is a beautiful national park with more trails than I could ever hope to cover. When the running trail is dotted with waterfalls, lush greenery, sprawling grasslands, and interesting wildlife it is easy to forget the discomfort of running and get lost in the experience. Going running alone can be  therapeutic as I meditate and appreciate God's beauty.  Yesterday, however, I was joined on my run by  a new friend, and as I came home from my run feeling even more energized and refueled than usual, I realized it was because of the companionship I enjoyed on the trail. Connecting with a friend, enjoyed a shared interest, talking about challenges of parenting, and processing events of the week left me even more replenished than the prayerful contemplation that I usually get while running. I realized that yesterday was not a unique experience; ...
Post a Comment
Read more