A Study of the Book of Mormon

Jacob 4:7-13 I have been somewhat remorse as of late because of my personal failures to draw closer to my Lord. Knowing that I've received some significant spiritual instruction as of late, I think that the thing that has concerned me the most is my own obvious ingratitude towards Christ. I guess what I'm trying to express is that I feel that I have been taking for granted my Advocate before the Father, because He seems to always be there, whether or not I fully recognize His help. Reading these verses in Jacob has helped me to remember how absolutely essential Christ and His atonement really are. What's even more interesting is the way in which Jacob words it. "For why not speak of the atonement of Christ, and attain to a perfect knowledge of him..." ( vs. 12 ). What strikes me about this passage is the use of the word "perfect " suggesting that a knowledge of Christ's involvement in my life can be much more than just a passing awareness. The questi...

2 Nephi 2:26-30 In these verses is one of the undergirding doctrines that supports all of humanity, not exclusively the Latter-day Saints. As the fall of man necessarily and universally removed him from God's presence, so it is that the redemption through the Holy Messiah overcomes the effects of that enough in this life to make men free agents for themselves to choose between good and evil. At the most basic level, the power to discern is a gift from God available to all men. This is similar to the idea that I had discussed in an earlier post (the post was actually made in Spanish but was in reference to verses 9 and 10 ), that Christ had interceded on behalf of all, or in other words, prepared a path of redemption for all men. Even in verse 27 , he is called "the great Mediator of all men".

Today I am following the footnotes under "Pondering", which actually are a listing a scriptures under the heading of " Meditation " in the Topical Guide. Joshua 1:8 is a jewel in that it has a promise attached to the principle. Here the Lord gives Joshua a commandment to meditate on the scriptures day and night that our actions may be in conformance with what is written. Then the promise is this: "for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Prosperity and success are the promises (and I rather suspect that it is in matters of eternal weight and importance). Doctrine and Covenants 84:85 addresses meditation as treasuring in my mind the words of life. This is the value of the Word of God, that it merits my attention as a treasure.

1 Nephi 11:1 I suppose that I had always assumed that Nephi was praying when he has his vision of the tree of life when in fact he was pondering. How to define pondering? The footnote is a cross reference to the topic of meditation and to a verse of scripture where Joseph Smith describes a similar process before he received the vision of the degrees of glory (see D&C 76:19 ). Pondering is a thought process where I dedicate my entire mental capacity to the topic at hand. Doing so successfully allows for spiritual promptings, and, as in the case of Nephi and Joseph Smith, prepared them for heavenly visions.