2 Nephi 4

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I always find the stories in 2nd Nephi to be even more significant. While reading through the section, the one thing that really just seemed to stick out to me was verse 16, which says "Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard." Now, obviously Nephi has seen far more things than any of us would ever expect to see. But I think each of us can still completely relate to what this verse is saying. I think most of us can say that when we read scriptures, when we truly read, we can feel our souls leaping in delight and want. When we read, we naturally ponder what we read and ask ourselves, "How can I apply this to my life?" To learn, we need to ponder these things in our hearts and through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord will testify of the truths of these things and reveal new truths to us.  

I know how hard it was for Laman and Lemuel to see their father die. They wanted their father to be with them forever. And then, don't we all. I think the one event in my life that made me realize how badly it hurts to lose someone was when I lost my grandfather at Christmas. It was the hardest thing I think that ever happened to me. Now at the time, I was not aware that God was acting in my life. Quite frankly, for the longest time, I wanted God out of my life, or at least as far away as possible. Before my grandfather died, I made it my mission to search and find God. There is a scripture from 3rd Nephi chapter 27 verse 29, which states "Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened."  And I feel that I did that to the very best of my ability. I tried to find that answer I needed. For the first few weeks after Thanksgiving, I read my Bible every night trying to reestablish the relationship with Heavenly Father I had severed a few years back. And yet, it just could not seem to do that. My relationship was gone, it seemed and I couldn't get it back. I told my parents I didn't want to work Sundays anymore and that the money wasn't important. I told them that if I didn't get my Sundays off, I would quit my job so that I could go to church. Thankfully, my manager was kind enough to give me my Sundays off. I went to church and was still searching and searching and I never found what I was looking for. As the weeks went by, my newly established habits dissipated. I stopped going to church and reading the Bible. A few more weeks went by and the next thing I knew, my grandfather was dead. Now like Laman and Lemuel, I did not look to God for help. Honestly, I didn't know He could help and I don't think I would have wanted His help at the time, anyway. Like Laman and Lemuel, I should've turned to God for the help I needed. He's always there to help and guide us. We just need to open our eyes and hearts a bit more to see that. 

Nephi goes on to talk about how hard it is to rejoice when we are burdened with sins. But our Heavenly Father has given us a way through the Atonement of Jesus Christ to rid ourselves of these sins. This is called repentance. It is absolutely essential to the Plan of Salvation, or the Plan of Happiness. When we have sins, we are definitely not happy. Nephi also states this to be true in his writing. When we have sinned, we need to take the initiative and the time to go and truly repent for what we have done wrong. The Lord will forgive you. And even if the person you hurt doesn't, know that the Lord's forgiveness is all you need. He will help you. That is His promise. Nephi says in verses 20 and 21, "My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions… He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." Nephi just flat out tells us that God will support us and He will love us forever. And we can feel God's love for us. One of the easiest ways to feel His love is just to go and ask Him, "do you love me?". I promise you He will send you an answer that is a yes. And if for some reason He doesn't, it's because He knows you already know He loves you unconditionally. One time an Elder had me go and pray and ask God if He loves me. And the answer is yes. He loves each and every one of us. He will never forget us. We are His children and He loves us so, so, so much.  

"Oh Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever."

1 Nephi 17

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

I just have to start off saying that I absolutely love this part from verse 3, "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." All God asks us to do is keep His commandments, which are pretty easy, and He will bless us and provide us with the strength we need to get through trials. I can definitely testify that He has helped me through many trials and He has given me plenty of times to strengthen my faith in Him. I have found thus far that the more we trust Him, the more blessings we receive. When Nephi and his family began to strengthen their faith in the Lord, they received plenty of blessings, like good food.

"And we did sojourn for the space of many years, yea, even eight years in the wilderness." Nephi and his family journeyed through the wilderness for eight years! Most of us have trials and all that last just a short while. Definitely not normally eight years. I think this says so much for the faith of Nephi and his family. When they were in the wilderness, they often had to rely on the Lord to help them find food they could eat. I can only imagine how much faith that took. And yet they did it.

When Nephi and his family finally made it to their destination, the Lord called Nephi and told him that he needed to build a ship that would carry them across the waters. Nephi asked where the tools were and then said okay. This is probably a far-fetched analogy, but I think we can completely relate our lives to this particular event. Nephi and his family are just like you and I. Generally, we are not asked to build a ship, but to build our faith and testimony. Like Nephi, we need Heavenly Father's help. The tools He provides us are our scriptures, the Spirit and missionaries. Once a ship has been built and we deem it steady, we normally go out on the water. I think in this case the water can be viewed as the world. So really, we are taking our testimony out into the world to test it. Out at sea, a ship is always trying to stay above the water. Like us, we are always trying to stay above temptation. Where Nephi is going is the land the Lord promised him. After this life, assuming we lead good and righteous lives in accordance with the gospel, we will receive the land, or rather kingdom, that Heavenly Father has promised us. "Wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led." We need to listen to the Lord and follow His commandments if we want Him to keep His promise.

Continuing the analogy above, verse 18 says "And thus my brethren did complain against me, and were desirous that they might not labor, for they did not believe that I could build a ship; neither would they believe that I was instructed of the Lord." This reminds me of all of the people who try to tear apart our testimonies not believing that the Lord said that this is the one true church. People complain about the Mormon faith and unfortunately, all too often, they have heard only misconceptions. Nonetheless, they still try to prove they are right, much like Nephi's brothers try to do in this verse.

After many events, at the end of the chapter, Nephi's brothers say "We know of a surety that the Lord is with thee, for we know that it is the power of the Lord that has shaken us. And they fell down before me, and were about to worship me, but I would not suffer them, saying: I am thy brother, yea, even thy younger brother; wherefore, worship the Lord thy God, and honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee." Heavenly Father, though, more than likely will not give us an event like this. But truly, we don't need it. We have our testimony. In Alma 32:21, we are told that to have faith is to trust in things that are not seen that are true. We know that God is the one true God. We know He's there and He loves us. While we do not normally receive dramatic events, we don't need them. After all, we have our faith, scriptures and testimonies, and that is plenty.

Hold on to your testimony and be not swayed by others who claim it to be false. You know it's true and Heavenly Father knows it's true, and that's enough. "Stand ye in holy places and be not moved until the day of the Lord come" and stick to your testimony.

1 Nephi 16

Monday, July 29, 2013

In the very first verse of this chapter, Laman and Lemuel complain to Nephi that what he has said to them is too much to bear. Nephi told them that they need to make sure they need to not harden their hearts and listen to Heavenly Father. I think what Laman and Lemuel were inferring when they said this is that those things which Nephi asked of them were too much for them to do, meaning they need the Lord's help. Nephi earlier had talked about how the wicked and unclean are not allowed into the kingdom of God. Laman and Lemuel pretty much fit into that category especially after all of their plots with trying to kill Nephi. I think in a way this is a reminder to us that when we have trials or other things that are too much for us to bear, we need to ask the Lord. After all, there is nothing too big or small for Him.

When I read the fifth verse, which says "And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness." The first thing that went through my head is, I wonder if this is how the Lord feels when we humble ourselves before Him? We do constantly need His help and it takes setting aside our pride to ask Him for the help we need.

Throughout the rest of this story, the faith of all of them is truly tested. They are given a ball which will lead them according to their faith and diligence. So, as long as they are faithful and do not murmur against the Lord or each other, everything will turn out alright for them. Nephi at one point breaks his bow and is unable to hunt for food for his family. The family after a few days gets very upset and begins to say bad things against the Lord, Lehi even does this. I think this was a test for them to see what would happen when they lost something they dearly needed. Instead of praying to the Lord and asking for help from Him, they try to take matters into their own hands. So often in our lives, there are things we cannot control and things that are too great for us to try to handle alone. Instead of getting mad or frustrated and wanting to give up, we need to allow ourselves to slow down and think. Once we have a firm grasp on the situation, we should pray and ask the Lord for help. Sometimes He doesn't give us a direct answer. Sometimes this means He trusts us enough to make the correct or more correct decision ourselves. And sometimes we don't get an answer because either choice is appropriate. One of the most amazing things I noticed while reading is that Lehi even got mad even though he's always been the most faithful to the Lord. I think this serves as a reminder that we are not perfect and that we all make mistakes and do things we shouldn't. Lehi messing up shows this.

What we need to remember is that when we do make a mistake, we need to make sure we repent and then try our hardest not to make that same error again. When we lack faith and hope, we need to ask the Lord for help. Sometimes He will then present us with a trial to test our faith and hope. I personally have had this happen. And while it is quite frustrating, so far there has not been a single trial I haven't made it through. This is only true because I have asked for His help constantly. We are encouraged to read our scriptures daily. I find that scriptures bring great comfort, but they are also a wonderful place to look for guidance. Someone at some point in the scriptures has experienced a similar trial to you and you can read their story. The Lord truly has given us all of the tools we need to get through anything. 

1 Nephi 15

Sunday, July 28, 2013

This chapter reminds me so much of exactly what I feel I am going through. There are so many people who do not understand many things because they refuse to ask the Lord for confirmation or help. My parents are definitely two people like that. Because of the hardness in their hearts, I cannot continue learning from missionaries or do anything like that at all. Nephi says in verse 5, "And it came to pass that I was overcome because of my afflictions, for I considered that mine afflictions were great above all, because of the destruction of my people, for I had beheld their fall." For the afflictions, it reminds me of the 5 or 6 days I spent terribly ill. It was to the point where I could do nothing but sleep. It is amazing to think something as simple as having the privilege of learning from missionaries taken away could make someone so sick, but it did. I feel like the more my parents fight me, the more and more harm they do to themselves when it comes to learning and becoming closer to Christ. As Nephi tells us, if we truly want to gain an understanding of something, all we need to do is ask the Lord. He will guide us and allow us to know which course we should take.

The day I was the most sick, my father suggested I take a walk, as he thought it was just nerves and exercise would help with that. I agreed and after a little under a mile, I had to go lay down as I felt so tired, like I had just run a marathon. A little later, I got back up off the ground under a tree and went to get a smoothie to eat. I figured it was something easy and surely I'd be able to eat that. I hadn't eaten in about 5 days by this point because my body would not allow me to consume any food. On my way home, I thought I was about to collapse from exhaustion. So I began to walk slower and finally asked the Lord for help. He gave me the strength I needed, just as He gave Nephi the strength he needed in verse 6. I did make it home, and with the Lord's help, I gained a stronger testimony from this. I found, yet again, that I am on the correct path doing what I need to do. And I found this out simply because I inquired the Lord. We are not all-knowing beings. We need help. And what an easy way to get it. All we have to do is ask. "Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you" (verse 11).

Many people will not believe in the Lord for a long, long time. It says in here that the full belief by all men will occur after Christ has come and gone. It is now that we are working toward this. We are told that when all of Israel is gathered again, the second coming of the Messiah will occur. Christ makes all things so much easier and it truly is so easy to believe in Him. All we really have to do is open our eyes and ears to see the wonders around us that have been created by a divine hand especially as no other could have constructed such things in such an amazing fashion.

Nephi also speaks to his brothers concerning the dream he and their father had about the Tree of Life. The tree is God's love for us and the iron rod is the word of God (which are our scriptures). When we read our scriptures daily, or the word of God, it keeps us from being easily tempted to do things we know we should not. We can receive guidance and strength when we read, which is what keeps us from doing the things which we know we shouldn't. The river of filth which Nephi and his father saw keeps the wicked away from the tree of life. It is the temptations which we want to go near, but as long as we continue to cling to the word of God, we will not perish. The river itself represents sin. "And if they be filthy it must needs be that they cannot dwell in the kingdom of God; if so, the kingdom of God must be filthy also" (verse 33). And the kingdom of God is not filthy, therefore those with sins cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is why it is absolutely imperative that we truly repent for all the sins we have committed. To live again with our Heavenly Father, we need to strive to live righteous lives and follow His commandments and deny Him not. 

1 Nephi 14

Saturday, July 27, 2013

One thing I constantly see as I read through each chapter of the Book of Mormon is the constant emphasis of being a part of the right church. But what exactly is the "right" church? Most people wouldn't know which church is the one and true church because they haven't been searching for an answer. From all of the missionaries I've talked to, most say that we only receive an answer to this question when we are truly looking for one. I know that one way we can find which church is the true church is by reading our scriptures. We can then take what we've learned from them and ask Heavenly Father with a sincere desire to know if what we've read is true. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, He will testify the truth to our hearts.

I think one thing that is so awesome about the Church of Christ is that nothing is complicated. The last two words of the first verse of this chapter are "stumbling blocks." When I see these words, the first thing I think of is an obstacle that's trying to prevent us from doing what we want or need to do. When we read this verse, it talks about how Christ will help take away the "stumbling blocks." To me, this means that He will help us get through the tough times and raise us up when we fall.

The angel speaks to Nephi and says "Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them; and thou also knowest concerning the covenants of the Lord unto the house of Israel; and thou also hast heard that whoso repenteth not must perish." One thing we need to remember as we go through our daily lives is that in the final day, our actions will be judged. With this being said, we need to make sure we consciously trying to make the very best decisions we can. If we fail to do so, we need to make sure we repent. The repentance process is incredibly simple. We first need to acknowledge that what we did is wrong. We need to ask for forgiveness from Heavenly Father and try to make things right. Then, we need to make the commitment and promise to our Heavenly Father to try our very hardest not to make the same mistake again. He knows we are not perfect, but He does expect us to make the effort. I think one way to look at the word "perish" is to think of what happens when we do something wrong. Each of us has the Light of Christ which lets us know good from evil, or right from wrong. The more wrong decisions we make, the smaller and smaller this light gets. When we make good decisions, this light grows brighter and brighter. I remember listening to a video Elder Bednar made in the Patterns of Light series. At one point, he says that if we continuously make wrong decisions, the Light can ultimately be diminished. We really don't want this because this light is what gives us guidance and help. With it, we grow closer to our Heavenly Father.

I think verse 10 really has a massive impact on this section "Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth." It pretty much tells us that we will have to make a decision as to which church we want to be a part of. Ultimately the decision comes down to whether or not we want to follow Christ.  For me, this is not a difficult decision at all. Perhaps, though, that is because I've experienced what it's like to not have Him as an active part of my life. I think as we go through our daily lives, if we open our eyes, we can truly see how much He does for us and how much He helps us. It truly is incredible. So if He's trying to help and make things easier for us, why not follow Him?

As it says in Joshua 24:15 "And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Follow the Lord and He will help us and give us the guidance we desperately need.

1 Nephi 13

Friday, July 26, 2013

Something I'd say one of the missionaries was having a really hard time with was trying to get me to understand the importance of the Book of Mormon. Yeah, we know it's a book that contains scripture. But that doesn't necessarily immediately make it super important for us. That probably sounds rather odd considering scripture is always important, but when you're being told that it's important, it's different from actually knowing it's important.

One thing I'd like to discuss first before going back to my statement above is in this chapter one thing that is mentioned is how important materialistic items are to the church of the devil. It is those things which people of this church desire. Now we know material items can't make us happy. It doesn't matter how many things we have that we want. When it truly gets down to it, not all the things (items) in the world will make us happy. Psychology, for example, has shown us that humans are naturally social - we need someone to love us and someone for us to love. If we are entirely focused around material items, we don't have that. I think our parents' love for us is much like Heavenly Father's. And I mean that in the way that we want our parents to love us. I, for one, feel this deep desire and need to know that my parents love me. Heavenly Father ensures that we feel His love for us throughout each of our days. I was watching a video about Tender Mercies from the Lord. Each time He helps us out, it's a tender mercy. And these are so incredibly important in our lives. Without His help, we probably would not make it through this life and even if we did, we never would reach our full potential and be as happy as we possibly could.

I would say that our scriptures in a way are a tender mercy from the Lord. He's giving us guidance and help. Often times, when we read our scriptures consistently, we can receive personal revelation which will help us with whatever it is we need. This is why it is essential that we have the fulness of the gospel. How is it we can learn about something if pieces are missing? It's like trying to go into a higher math class without taking its prerequisite. I would think that right now I am definitely learning how important the Book of Mormon truly is. Parts of the Bible, as mentioned in this chapter, were lost and for that reason the Bible does not contain the fulness of the gospel. In order for us to learn, we need to fill those missing pieces.

I think verse 16 also gives a great example of what scriptures do for us "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them." I think it gives a great description in pretty much explaining that when we humble ourselves before the Lord, we receive help. Reading our scriptures and praying are two ways we can work on humbling ourselves. It's recognizing that we don't know everything and we truly need help from our Heavenly Father to guide us to make good and righteous decisions. Those that don't humble themselves before God generally do not receive His help. Now I can't speak for everyone, but I know that if the guidance I can receive from Him will make things a little easier and more bearable, I definitely want that help.

Verse 23 talks about what exactly the book Nephi saw contains "Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: The book that thou beholdest is a record of the Jews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the plates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles." In the Book of Mormon, these covenants, or promises, Heavenly Father has made to us are mentioned. One such promise He's made us is that He will never abandon us. No matter how many people leave us in our life, no matter how bad things get, He will always be there to lift us up when we all. And I find that knowing of that promise is incredibly comforting. To know someone is always there for you. 

1 Nephi 12

Friday, July 26, 2013 

When reading through the summary part of this chapter it talks about how there are those who "dwindle in unbelief" and the first question that came to my mind is - is it those who know naught where to find the truth of the gospel or the true church or is it simply those who have found the truth and refuse to accept it as being the truth? And I guess that's a hard question to answer because there are so many different things that influence our beliefs on a daily basis. For some of us it's family and friends and other things are our own beliefs. For me, I was raised in a Catholic family. Needless to say, some of the Mormon beliefs are quite different. And it makes you sort of wonder if those who dwell in disbelief, is it because they can't or don't know where to find the truth or is it they've mentally discarded the truth and done their best to ignore it?

For me, part of finding the truth was talking to the missionaries, but the bigger and I'd say the biggest part was simply getting on my knees and asking Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon is true. I've also asked Him about other things like baptism and each time I've received an undeniable confirmation that this is in fact the true church. So then you have those that find the truth, but then they leave. Is it because environmental factors affected them in such a way that they changed their beliefs? Because what is true is true forever and ever. So I would guess that those people simply are trying to ignore the truth and if you put enough effort in, you can easily ignore the truth. It truly is not that difficult of a thing to do.

In the first few verses Nephi speaks of the inhabitants fighting against each other, much like the world does today. Some wars are over religion. Some are full out country verses country wars and some are just small and in a group of people, rather than a mass amount. I think so often in our world today we have so many religious arguments between people because they don't want to listen to hear the truth because they believe their belief is the one and only true one. But they don't want to listen to others to test that. If you really believe you have the truth, you should not fear listening to others to hear about their religion because if you know the truth, what others say shouldn't matter. 

"And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost" (verse 17). The Gospel is simple and is definitely not complicated by any means. The mists of darkness, I think, is a symbolic representation of the darkness we feel and experience when we've done something wrong. When we do things that are against Heavenly Father's commandments, we can feel the presence of the Spirit decreasing. Heavenly Father gave us these commandments to protect and guide us and we really need to listen to Him. He knows what's best for us. The more bad things we do, the more we refuse to acknowledge the bad things which can ultimately blind us in such a way where we don't realize we continue to do bad things. We end up hardening our hearts against the truth and do what we feel is right rather than listening to Heavenly Father. If He knows what's best for us, we should listen to Him, right? After all, we can't see our lives as a whole. The only things we see are the past and present, and that's not really very much at all.