One in Purpose

This week we talked about Mormon 7-Ether 2. There were so many wonderful things covered in this week's lessons!

Starting in Mormon chapter 7, Mormon introduces the chapter by giving his last words/counsel to the house of Israel so that "they may know of the things of their fathers." These "fathers" include God the Father as the most important; then Jesus Christ as the second Father, then Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, etc. as the third fathers. Mormon is hoping to teach his posterity about these fathers in this chapter. He says "These are the words which I speak" and Brother Griffin had us write in "so that ye..." because it seems like that's what Mormon is wanting to say. "So that ye know that ye are the house of Israel... so that ye know that ye must come unto repentance..." etc.

This chapter also teaches us how to put our past behind us. In verse 7, we read of the cause/reward of the effect/action. The reward is to dwell with Him and to sing praises with the choirs above. The effect/action is that we must repent to have that blessing! The commandments therefore become an effect--the action upon which blessings are predicated. Because commandments are our way to blessings, we should look at them as an opportunity and desire to live them. Brother Griffin even suggested we ask for more commandments!

Then with verses 8-9 (I think?) we cross-referenced John 17:11, 21 and 22, which is Jesus' intercessory prayer. These verses stress the truth of their "one-ness," and makes it very clear that they are not one in person--rather they are on in purpose. They emphasize the kind of one-ness that the Savior desires us to have. He doesn't want us all to be squished together in one body; He wants us to treat each other with love, respect and kindness and be one as sisters and brothers in Christ. Brother Griffin suggested we remember these verses when teaching about the Trinity, which is definitely something I'll have to do down in Alabama! The south is right along the Bible belt and it's good for me to be prepared with verses straight from the Bible.

Another cool trick we learned was in the last half of verse 8 through verse 9. He told us to replace every "this" with "The Book of Mormon" and every "that" with "the Bible." It gives a cool twist on the scripture and shows how we believe that the Bible and The Book of Mormon work together. The Book of Mormon was written to help people better believe in the Bible. We believe that they are one in purpose.

Chapter 9:12 is a cool scripture because it shows the three pillars of eternity and how they work together as the Plan of Salvation. It first says "He created Adam," (the Creation) then "by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came Jesus Christ," (the Fall) and finally "And because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man." (the Atonement). It lists all three elements together--cool, huh?

Ah, there are so many awesome principles we covered in class this week and I just don't have time to cover them all!

A cool scripture we discussed in Mormon 9 is verse 31, where Mormon is obviously very self-conscious about the language he's writing in, which is reformed Egyptian. He says in 31 "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection..." and in 33 he says "and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record." Brother Griffin compared that to the way that many of us will feel who are speaking different languages. There will be times when we'll wish we could just speak in our own tongue, English, because then we could say exactly what we want to say in the right way! But whom the Lord calls the Lord qualifies, and just as Mormon was able to write and preach in this language, so will we be able to preach in our foreign languages. It's cool to know that even the prophet Mormon had the same insecurities as us.

Last of all we talked about Ether chapter 2, where the brother of Jared comes to the Lord and asks Him for help. The Lord answers him in verse 23 saying "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" The Lord challenges the Brother of Jared to ponder on an answer and to come up with a solution, then to ask the Lord for help with it. This is a prime example of what the Lord expects us to do. We are supposed to come to Him with our questions and desires, but there is a great responsibility on our part to act and use the resources He has given us. This is so applicable to us in our every day lives.

I love the scriptures. :)

Thanks for reading,

Kelsey