I have always thought of this chapter as the Bible Chapter, for reasons that will soon be made clear. In this (second half of the) chapter, the angel spirit guide shows Nephi a vision of the origin of the Bible and its corruption by the Great and Abominable Church. Which is something we talk about a lot as Mormons, I think. I always find it interesting that we focus so much on the intentional corruption of the Bible, as if there were hundreds of shifty-eyed monks who did nothing all day but erase crucial words from Isaiah and cloak the words of Paul in dense symbolism. That's what the angel focuses on in this vision, as well, with the phrasings like "take out" and "keep back.". However, I like to think that not all that was lost from the Bible was discarded intentionally, but rather .... lost, in the literal sense of the word. As in, by accident. Over the course of thousands of years, mistranslation, semantic shift, etc. are bound to happen. I wish we would give the Catholic Church more credit for preserving what we have instead of dissing them for messing it up. Just a thought.
One more potentially controversial idea. This chapter also talks about the motivation behind the corruption of the Bible, that the representatives of the Whore of All the Earth did so intentionally because they wanted to "blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men" Here is my thought, although it may be overly kind, I don't know. So remember what I said in the previous post about Columbus and the Founding Fathers being used for righteous purposes even though they weren't very righteous guys? That allows for the idea that the Spirit can work through imperfect vessels without them really understanding what is going on. Is it possible that those people who messed up the Bible and threw out the old covenants didn't do it because they were trying to build Satan's kingdom on earth, but rather because they thought they were doing the right thing and got confused? Maybe this is what really happened more often than not, and we just don't talk about it When I taught about the Apostasy as a missionary, we focused a lot on the idea that good people without the Priesthood make mistakes. If we had tried to tell Hungarians that all non-Mormon Christians were shifty-eyed Satanists who throughout the ages had tried their best to destroy Jesus and everything He stood for, we would have had even less success than we already weren't having. Again, just a thought, I'm open to correction. Good thing nobody reads this. And I really mean nobody.
Something I often said to fellow missionaries who trashed the Catholic Church too much was, "YOU try running a church without the Priesthood! See how far you get!"
It gets a little more upbeat around verse 30 when the angel spirit guide reassures Nephi that God won't allow the Bible-thumping Gentiles to completely destroy his descendants. You know, not utterly. Just mostly. He also points out that He won't allow the Gentiles to remain forever in their state of ignorance, which is great news because I think the Puritan life in the 1600s is seriously some of the most depressing stuff I have ever read about. He describes the Gentiles as "stumbling exceedingly," which is a fantastic image, I think. I much prefer the image of the Puritans stumbling through the dark rather than flipping off the lights, know what I mean? it implies that they, like the Lamanites, weren't so much rejecting everything good but rather living as best they could in relation to what they knew, which wasn't quite enough. Poor Puritans. Maybe I can even feel sorry for them.
Next, we have the Restoration! Yay! This version of it focuses almost entirely on the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon, which given the emphasis on the Bible earlier on in the chapter, makes a whole lot of sense. the angel spirit guide says that those who we will help to bring forth the new Zion will be very blessed.
"And ablessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my bZion at that day, for they shall have the cgift and the dpower of the Holy Ghost," it reads. So it's not you, and it's not them. It's the Holy Ghost that makes the difference. I like that. It's compassionate. At the end of this chapter, angel spirit guide reminds Nephi that, after all the negative vibes we were getting in the last few chapters, there is still one God and on Shepherd over all the Earth, and everything is going to work out OK. Good, because I was getting sad.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
1 Nephi 13, part 1 (verses 1-19)
1 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld many nations and kingdoms.
2 And the angel said unto me: What beholdest thou? And I said: I behold many anations and kingdoms.
Is it just me, or do these first two verses sound vaguely Dr. Seuss-ish?
And here we have it, Major Book of Mormon Controversy No. 1!!!!!!!!!! The Great and Abominable Church, the Whore of All the Earth (Ouch). So the big discussion amongst members of the Church, or as I like to think of it, Bruce R. McConkie vs. Everyone, is: Which church is it? I think a better question might be: is it meant to be any one specific church?
Here is what Nephi says about this church:
1. It slays the Saints of God.
2. It tortures them and binds them down and yokes them with an iron yoke and brings them into captivity. It does not slice or dice them, however. What is with the intoxicating rhythm of this chapter? The whole thing sounds like a freaky Hop on Pop.
3. The Devil is the founder of it.
4. The church desires gold, silver, silks, fine clothing, and harlots.
5. They destroy the Saints for the praise of the world.
My instinct tells me that just as the Saints of God, in my humble opinion, are not limited only to those who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but rather to all those who live righteous lives and accept Christ as the Savior of the world, so too are those who fight against the Church not under one umbrella organization, but rather found anywhere. I would wager that some of the whores of all the earth are even found in this very church. Mormons are not immune to wickedness and pride and vanity and such. In fact sometimes we see the worst of it.
That is a very uncomfortable thought, I think, but I also think it's a true one.
And then, in the middle of this charming description of the worst church ever, we have a reference to Christopher Columbus! I'm just glad I didn't end up in that chapter. What a downer.
I have always kinda had issues with the whole "Christopher Columbus being inspired" thing. Not that I doubt it. I mean it's in the Book of Mormon pretty clearly, it must be true. But based on the (admittedly highly revisionist) history I've read about Columbus, he doesn't seem like a very nice guy. In fact, quite often he sounds like a world-class (if you'll pardon the pun) jerk. I guess on the one hand, I should be grateful that Heavenly Father is willing to use even the most flawed among us to accomplish His purposes. I suppose I just don't like the fact that many American Mormons use these few verses in the Book of Mormon to justify deifying Columbus and refusing to believe anything bad that historians might say about him. Ditto with the Founding Fathers. I know I will have to meet them to be 100% sure, but I think some of them were probably pricks. But God worked through them anyway, just like He can work through me, if I let Him.
Also, according to Nephi, the Nephites resembled the British colonists on some level. So they were short and pale and had bad teeth, presumably? At least they were humble, right?
Kidding, Nephi, if you're reading this. You know I kid.
Is it just me, or do these first two verses sound vaguely Dr. Seuss-ish?
And here we have it, Major Book of Mormon Controversy No. 1!!!!!!!!!! The Great and Abominable Church, the Whore of All the Earth (Ouch). So the big discussion amongst members of the Church, or as I like to think of it, Bruce R. McConkie vs. Everyone, is: Which church is it? I think a better question might be: is it meant to be any one specific church?
Here is what Nephi says about this church:
1. It slays the Saints of God.
2. It tortures them and binds them down and yokes them with an iron yoke and brings them into captivity. It does not slice or dice them, however. What is with the intoxicating rhythm of this chapter? The whole thing sounds like a freaky Hop on Pop.
3. The Devil is the founder of it.
4. The church desires gold, silver, silks, fine clothing, and harlots.
5. They destroy the Saints for the praise of the world.
My instinct tells me that just as the Saints of God, in my humble opinion, are not limited only to those who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but rather to all those who live righteous lives and accept Christ as the Savior of the world, so too are those who fight against the Church not under one umbrella organization, but rather found anywhere. I would wager that some of the whores of all the earth are even found in this very church. Mormons are not immune to wickedness and pride and vanity and such. In fact sometimes we see the worst of it.
That is a very uncomfortable thought, I think, but I also think it's a true one.
And then, in the middle of this charming description of the worst church ever, we have a reference to Christopher Columbus! I'm just glad I didn't end up in that chapter. What a downer.
I have always kinda had issues with the whole "Christopher Columbus being inspired" thing. Not that I doubt it. I mean it's in the Book of Mormon pretty clearly, it must be true. But based on the (admittedly highly revisionist) history I've read about Columbus, he doesn't seem like a very nice guy. In fact, quite often he sounds like a world-class (if you'll pardon the pun) jerk. I guess on the one hand, I should be grateful that Heavenly Father is willing to use even the most flawed among us to accomplish His purposes. I suppose I just don't like the fact that many American Mormons use these few verses in the Book of Mormon to justify deifying Columbus and refusing to believe anything bad that historians might say about him. Ditto with the Founding Fathers. I know I will have to meet them to be 100% sure, but I think some of them were probably pricks. But God worked through them anyway, just like He can work through me, if I let Him.
Also, according to Nephi, the Nephites resembled the British colonists on some level. So they were short and pale and had bad teeth, presumably? At least they were humble, right?
Kidding, Nephi, if you're reading this. You know I kid.
Monday, November 30, 2009
I Nephi 12
"Nephi's vision 2: and this time it gets ugly"
This is a continuation of Nephi's vision of the tree of life, which basically turns into a vision of the history of the world. Although at this point none of it had happened yet so it was actually a vision of the future rather than a mere history. Which is pretty cool. Quite often I wish I could see the future.
1. Nephi beholds the promised land and sees the he and his brethren have lots and lots of descendants. Keeping with familial tradition, they fight amongst each other.
2. Nephi sees all he destruction that precedes the Coming of the Savior to the Nephites. I always wonder if watching something like that would be more like watching a disaster movie, where people just run out of the way and look scared but you don't see any real violence, or more like Peter Jackson's King Kong where you actually witness the individual people suffering? If it's the second I'm glad I didn't have to see that. I think it's an all-around good thing that I'm not a prophet, actually.
3. Next, Nephi sees Christ's ministry among the Nephites, which I'm positive is exactly like it's shown in the movie The Testaments.
Here's an interesting tidbit: Nephi mentions that Christ calls twelve men to be Apostles among his seed in order to judge them in the afterlife, whereas the Jerusalem Twelve (as they shall henceforth be called) will judge the Jews. First question: the Jerusalem Twelve, is that plus or minus Judas? I'm going to assume he won't qualify, so who will they pick to take his place? Matthias, maybe? Joseph Smith? Who knows?
Seriously, the Joseph Smith thing was 100% speculation. Please don't quote me on that.
Second question: so different ethnic groups have different judges? Or is it different time periods? How does this massive organization of post-mortal judging teams work? I'm afraid this is another one of those questions I will most likely not know until I die unless I somehow end up married to the prophet. Possibly not even then. Not that I'm complaining. I recognize that it's not MASSIVELY important.
4. Next, and this must have been hard to watch too, but for different reasons, Nephi watches four generations pass away in righteousness, which must have been heartening. Yet I'm sure Nephi probably figure it out pretty quickly that it wasn't going to last. He sees his descendants gathered against his brothers' descendants in battle, and he basically watches them wipe each other. Even if he only saw the PG version, that must have been painful to watch. The more I think about it, the happier I am that I can't see the future, because you know the future will always contain good things and bad things. I'd rather be surprised by both.
6. Lastly, we have a quick review of the rest of the symbolism of the vision.
River = Hell
Great and Spacious Building = Pride of Man
7. The angel then reiterates that The Lamanites totally kick the Nephites' trash (as if he needed him to rub it in any more) and that the Lamanites forget all the traditions of their fathers and dabble in all sorts of wickedness. Which seems a pretty harsh dismissal of the Native Americans, but maybe he was only talking about the really bloodthirsty ones.
This is a continuation of Nephi's vision of the tree of life, which basically turns into a vision of the history of the world. Although at this point none of it had happened yet so it was actually a vision of the future rather than a mere history. Which is pretty cool. Quite often I wish I could see the future.
1. Nephi beholds the promised land and sees the he and his brethren have lots and lots of descendants. Keeping with familial tradition, they fight amongst each other.
2. Nephi sees all he destruction that precedes the Coming of the Savior to the Nephites. I always wonder if watching something like that would be more like watching a disaster movie, where people just run out of the way and look scared but you don't see any real violence, or more like Peter Jackson's King Kong where you actually witness the individual people suffering? If it's the second I'm glad I didn't have to see that. I think it's an all-around good thing that I'm not a prophet, actually.
3. Next, Nephi sees Christ's ministry among the Nephites, which I'm positive is exactly like it's shown in the movie The Testaments.
Here's an interesting tidbit: Nephi mentions that Christ calls twelve men to be Apostles among his seed in order to judge them in the afterlife, whereas the Jerusalem Twelve (as they shall henceforth be called) will judge the Jews. First question: the Jerusalem Twelve, is that plus or minus Judas? I'm going to assume he won't qualify, so who will they pick to take his place? Matthias, maybe? Joseph Smith? Who knows?
Seriously, the Joseph Smith thing was 100% speculation. Please don't quote me on that.
Second question: so different ethnic groups have different judges? Or is it different time periods? How does this massive organization of post-mortal judging teams work? I'm afraid this is another one of those questions I will most likely not know until I die unless I somehow end up married to the prophet. Possibly not even then. Not that I'm complaining. I recognize that it's not MASSIVELY important.
4. Next, and this must have been hard to watch too, but for different reasons, Nephi watches four generations pass away in righteousness, which must have been heartening. Yet I'm sure Nephi probably figure it out pretty quickly that it wasn't going to last. He sees his descendants gathered against his brothers' descendants in battle, and he basically watches them wipe each other. Even if he only saw the PG version, that must have been painful to watch. The more I think about it, the happier I am that I can't see the future, because you know the future will always contain good things and bad things. I'd rather be surprised by both.
6. Lastly, we have a quick review of the rest of the symbolism of the vision.
River = Hell
Great and Spacious Building = Pride of Man
7. The angel then reiterates that The Lamanites totally kick the Nephites' trash (as if he needed him to rub it in any more) and that the Lamanites forget all the traditions of their fathers and dabble in all sorts of wickedness. Which seems a pretty harsh dismissal of the Native Americans, but maybe he was only talking about the really bloodthirsty ones.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
1 Nephi 11
Although this is not the longest chapter in the Book of Mormon, it is certainly one of the most complex and cool. Prepare to be amazed. Not by my writing, or my insight (alas) but by the cool imagery in this chapter. I heart symbolism (ha!).
So in the previous chapter, as I neglected to mention, Nephi states that his dearest wish is to behold the vision of the tree of life that his father was privileged to see. He starts out this chapter by saying that as he desired to know his father had seen, and believed the words his father had said already, and sat pondering these things, he ended up getting his wish. I have those three verbs circled and linked with pencil lines in the copy of the Book of Mormon that I'm currently using: desire, believe, ponder. I think that's a pretty solid formula for receiving revelation.
So the angel appears to Nephi, and asks him what he wants even though I am positive that he (the angel) already knows. I love it when people ask questions to which they already know the answer. Like when God comes to Adam and Eve after they've eaten the forbidden fruit and he's all like, "WAIT a second? Did you guys eat the fruit??" I think if I were Eve I would have been sassy due to nerves and said something like, "Um, aren't you GOD?" This is why I was not chosen to be the mother of all living. Anyway, I think asking questions can often be a useful educational method. I think it's great. Especially when it backfires. But here it works out quite nicely, and the angel informs him that after he sees the same vision that his father saw, he will also get to see (Double plus bonus!) the future Son of God.
Fact: this angel spirit guide fella says the word "Look!" a lot. Nephi, being the obedient type to begin with, always does so, and every time he looks, he sees something new and interesting. The lesson here is simple: listen to your angel spirit guide. Or you know, the Spirit. Same thing.
Now be sure to hearken back to the previous chapter about the original vision of the tree of life, because I'm not going to repeat everything all over again. Nephi sees all the same things his father saw, and (Triple plus bonus!) also gets walked through the interpretation thereof, courtesy of the angel spirit guide. What I really like about this is that the spirit guide doesn't just spoon feed all the interpretations to Nephi, he just kind of shows him something in response to his question and lets Nephi make the connection himself, which is ultimately more meaningful. It also reminds me a little bit of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol. Which is another great educational vision, although a fictional one.
So when Nephi asks what the tree symbolizes, the angel shows him a vision of Mary, the mother of Christ. Here is something I have always wondered: the scriptures seem to make it pretty clear that Christ was not anything special looks-wise. I mean it doesn't sound like he an unusually ugly guy, but more like he was just ordinary. Not particularly beautiful on the outside. But the first thing Nephi says when he sees Mary is that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen (Ouch, Mrs. Nephi! That's OK, you know who he comes home to every night...) Does that mean she really was physically attractive, or was she just beautiful because of her mission and her deep spirituality? To me, it really does sound like she was a beautiful girl, which raises the following question: why would God choose someone beautiful to be the mother of the Savior but have the Savior be sort of plain physically? Is there some sort of connection between beauty and virtue for women that doesn't really exist with men? Or was it just a product of which spirits got callings in the pre-existence? Was everyone beautiful in the pre-existence?
Perhaps a better question to ask would be, is everyone beautiful now?
I'll get back to you.
Anyway, the angel asks Nephi if he knows of "the condescension of God," which is a very interesting phrase in English. Condescension the way we use it in this modern age generally means talking down to someone. In Hungarian, however, the phrase they use in translation means, "to move downwards" which makes a lot more sense: Christ came down to Earth to fulfill His spiritual mission. Also, Merriam-Webster lists the first definition of condescension as "voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in relations with an inferior." To be fair, we are ALL inferior compared to Jesus. That's just the way the ball bounces. But I really love that idea of "voluntary descent." That makes Christ's mission seem all the more personal and conscious, like He chose to be our Savior and hang out with prostitutes and tax collectors because He wanted to, not because it was his lot in life by random chance.
Nephi gets the abridged version of Christ's ministry: calls twelve apostles, heals the sick, ministers to children, etc. Then he actually witnesses the Atonement and Crucifixion, which must have been terrible to watch. Frankly, I'm glad it wasn't me. I couldn't even handle Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, for crying out loud. Afterwards (and I think this is very interesting) Nephi witnesses the entire world fighting against the Twelve Apostles and the members of their church. And then--ah, we've come full circle! All those guys persecuting the Twelve Apostles were in the Great and Spacious Building all along! Frankly, reading it over again makes the ending sound a bit Twilight Zone-y. But perhaps that's just me.
Spoiler alert: the Great and Spacious Building, AKA the pride of the world, eventually falls. The angel ends by telling Nephi that the same thing will happen to anyone who rebels against God. Which, to use another movie analogy, kinda sounds like he is setting things up for a sequel.
So in the previous chapter, as I neglected to mention, Nephi states that his dearest wish is to behold the vision of the tree of life that his father was privileged to see. He starts out this chapter by saying that as he desired to know his father had seen, and believed the words his father had said already, and sat pondering these things, he ended up getting his wish. I have those three verbs circled and linked with pencil lines in the copy of the Book of Mormon that I'm currently using: desire, believe, ponder. I think that's a pretty solid formula for receiving revelation.
So the angel appears to Nephi, and asks him what he wants even though I am positive that he (the angel) already knows. I love it when people ask questions to which they already know the answer. Like when God comes to Adam and Eve after they've eaten the forbidden fruit and he's all like, "WAIT a second? Did you guys eat the fruit??" I think if I were Eve I would have been sassy due to nerves and said something like, "Um, aren't you GOD?" This is why I was not chosen to be the mother of all living. Anyway, I think asking questions can often be a useful educational method. I think it's great. Especially when it backfires. But here it works out quite nicely, and the angel informs him that after he sees the same vision that his father saw, he will also get to see (Double plus bonus!) the future Son of God.
Fact: this angel spirit guide fella says the word "Look!" a lot. Nephi, being the obedient type to begin with, always does so, and every time he looks, he sees something new and interesting. The lesson here is simple: listen to your angel spirit guide. Or you know, the Spirit. Same thing.
Now be sure to hearken back to the previous chapter about the original vision of the tree of life, because I'm not going to repeat everything all over again. Nephi sees all the same things his father saw, and (Triple plus bonus!) also gets walked through the interpretation thereof, courtesy of the angel spirit guide. What I really like about this is that the spirit guide doesn't just spoon feed all the interpretations to Nephi, he just kind of shows him something in response to his question and lets Nephi make the connection himself, which is ultimately more meaningful. It also reminds me a little bit of the ghosts in A Christmas Carol. Which is another great educational vision, although a fictional one.
So when Nephi asks what the tree symbolizes, the angel shows him a vision of Mary, the mother of Christ. Here is something I have always wondered: the scriptures seem to make it pretty clear that Christ was not anything special looks-wise. I mean it doesn't sound like he an unusually ugly guy, but more like he was just ordinary. Not particularly beautiful on the outside. But the first thing Nephi says when he sees Mary is that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen (Ouch, Mrs. Nephi! That's OK, you know who he comes home to every night...) Does that mean she really was physically attractive, or was she just beautiful because of her mission and her deep spirituality? To me, it really does sound like she was a beautiful girl, which raises the following question: why would God choose someone beautiful to be the mother of the Savior but have the Savior be sort of plain physically? Is there some sort of connection between beauty and virtue for women that doesn't really exist with men? Or was it just a product of which spirits got callings in the pre-existence? Was everyone beautiful in the pre-existence?
Perhaps a better question to ask would be, is everyone beautiful now?
I'll get back to you.
Anyway, the angel asks Nephi if he knows of "the condescension of God," which is a very interesting phrase in English. Condescension the way we use it in this modern age generally means talking down to someone. In Hungarian, however, the phrase they use in translation means, "to move downwards" which makes a lot more sense: Christ came down to Earth to fulfill His spiritual mission. Also, Merriam-Webster lists the first definition of condescension as "voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in relations with an inferior." To be fair, we are ALL inferior compared to Jesus. That's just the way the ball bounces. But I really love that idea of "voluntary descent." That makes Christ's mission seem all the more personal and conscious, like He chose to be our Savior and hang out with prostitutes and tax collectors because He wanted to, not because it was his lot in life by random chance.
Nephi gets the abridged version of Christ's ministry: calls twelve apostles, heals the sick, ministers to children, etc. Then he actually witnesses the Atonement and Crucifixion, which must have been terrible to watch. Frankly, I'm glad it wasn't me. I couldn't even handle Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ, for crying out loud. Afterwards (and I think this is very interesting) Nephi witnesses the entire world fighting against the Twelve Apostles and the members of their church. And then--ah, we've come full circle! All those guys persecuting the Twelve Apostles were in the Great and Spacious Building all along! Frankly, reading it over again makes the ending sound a bit Twilight Zone-y. But perhaps that's just me.
Spoiler alert: the Great and Spacious Building, AKA the pride of the world, eventually falls. The angel ends by telling Nephi that the same thing will happen to anyone who rebels against God. Which, to use another movie analogy, kinda sounds like he is setting things up for a sequel.
Monday, March 23, 2009
1 Nephi 10
This is another one of those chapters that records the words of Lehi, specifically concerning Christ and his Atonement. This chapter is so much easier to understand than the forthcoming Isaiah chapters (Heck if I know what I'm going to write about those), but I still am unsure about what to comment on. Frankly, it's been a long hiatus, and I feel rusty. But nevertheless, I will venture.
A line I wholeheartedly enjoy in verse three is the phrase, "according to the own due time of the Lord." It's one of those lines that I know I need to hear again and again, almost constantly, because it's so relevant to me. I've written about this before, but like all true principles, it warrants repetition: promised blessings are technically just as good as received blessings. Although we as puny mortals can't seem to appreciate blessings that remain unreceived, God is as good as his word, and His timing is perfect even though it drives me crazy. That being said, I am grateful to live in a time when I don't have to worry about when Christ will come for the first time. That must have been immensely difficult.
Next verse of note: "Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer."
I have a friend who often discourages me and others from associating from certain people, for no other reason than they are "beset by sin." I don't like that term. My friend is a good man, and I actually blame the culture of the Church, not only him, for this attitude, but the fact is, we are all beset by sin. It sounds very Baptist to our Mormon ears to say we're all sinners, but shoot, it's true, isn't it? I love that this verse uses the phrase "rely on [the] Redeemer," emphasizing our utter dependence on him. We are children of God, but in a way we are children of Christ as well, in that we are completely helpless without him, like infants. The sooner I recognize and live by that concept, the better.
The very first reference to the Olive Tree Parable is contained in this chapter. I love that allegory.
A line I wholeheartedly enjoy in verse three is the phrase, "according to the own due time of the Lord." It's one of those lines that I know I need to hear again and again, almost constantly, because it's so relevant to me. I've written about this before, but like all true principles, it warrants repetition: promised blessings are technically just as good as received blessings. Although we as puny mortals can't seem to appreciate blessings that remain unreceived, God is as good as his word, and His timing is perfect even though it drives me crazy. That being said, I am grateful to live in a time when I don't have to worry about when Christ will come for the first time. That must have been immensely difficult.
Next verse of note: "Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer."
I have a friend who often discourages me and others from associating from certain people, for no other reason than they are "beset by sin." I don't like that term. My friend is a good man, and I actually blame the culture of the Church, not only him, for this attitude, but the fact is, we are all beset by sin. It sounds very Baptist to our Mormon ears to say we're all sinners, but shoot, it's true, isn't it? I love that this verse uses the phrase "rely on [the] Redeemer," emphasizing our utter dependence on him. We are children of God, but in a way we are children of Christ as well, in that we are completely helpless without him, like infants. The sooner I recognize and live by that concept, the better.
The very first reference to the Olive Tree Parable is contained in this chapter. I love that allegory.
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