Moroni 7-10

Following are the quotes and the link for the recording of today's class. Thank you for continuing to make this a wonderful experience even in the midst of difficult challenges. Your preparation and participation made this study memorable for all of us. I deeply appreciate each of you. Thank you!

We will begin class again sometime in October following October school break. I will keep the blog updated on starting dates and course of study. I hope you all have a wonderful summer as we move forward in uncertain times. 

ZOOM RECORDING

https://zoom.us/rec/share/7pZSCuHz_DtIfZHg5lzCaKAaP53YX6a82icf8_RZmE9-OMwGsAFVXRv8FwxIeLOb?startTime=1588091382000

 CHARITY

“True charity has been known only once. It is shown perfectly and purely in Christ’s unfailing, ultimate, and atoning love for us. It is Christ’s love for us that ‘suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not.’ It is his love for us that is not ‘puffedup...,noteasilyprovoked,thinkethnoevil.’ ItisChrist’sloveforusthat ‘beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.’ It is demonstrated in Christ that ‘charity never faileth.’ It is that charity—his pure love for us—without which we would be nothing, hopeless, of all men and women most miserable. Truly, those found possessed of the blessings of his love at the last day—the Atonement, the Resurrection, eternal life, eternal promise— surely it shall be well with them.”

Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 336-7

“Only charity never fails us. Only Jesus Christ the Healer is a sure foundation. Because they are the same.The most perfect form of love the universe has ever known is fully realized in the Christ of the Restoration. Encountering that reality is the sole means of anchoring our faith in the Restoration on unassailable foundations, moving us from fragile faith to the durable discipleship of love. Only truth that is hard won, dearly bought, and firmly grasped can nourish and sustain us through the crucible of life, of doubt, of loss. Like the philosopher’s stone of legend, the foundation we build in Christ can transmute the earthy elements of our poor selves into celestial material fit for glory if that foundation be laid in a correct understanding.We believe this is true for one simple reason. In that dramatic colloquy in the Tower with his daughter Meg, who complains, 'Haven’t you done as much as God can reasonably want?,’ Robert Bolt’s Thomas More explains, ‘Well finally, it isn’t a matter of reason. Finally, it’s a matter of love.’ Even to begin to know our Heavenly Parents and their Christ, through the prism of the restored gospel is inevitably and irresistibly to love them with a love that is healing, transformative, and redemptive."

Givens,Fiona.The Christ Who Heals: How God Restored The Truth That Saves Us .Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition.

 MORMON’S LETTER

“The letter shocks the reader.Yet, that may well have been Moroni's intent. He offers no explanation as to why he included this letter in his writings. However, as it stands, it provides a striking contrast that enhances Moroni's invitation to come unto Christ.This is what Gerald N. Lund calls a scriptural foil: a technique used by scriptural writers who place ‘two contrasting principles or examples side by side to show even more clearly what they [are] trying to teach.’ Moroni chapters 9 and 10 together contain the last of several contrasts found in the Book of Mormon that illustrate one of its major themes: we are ‘free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.’ Chapter 9 illustrates what happens when we choose ‘captivity and death’ through the power of Satan, while chapter 10 offers hope and encouragement to those who desire ‘liberty and eternal life through Christ.’”

Bruce K. Satterfield, https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/sites/default/files/archive-files/pdf/ satterfield/2015-12-10/21_bruce_k._satterfield_moroni_9-10_1995.pdf

MORONI’S FINAL EXHORTATION

“Moroni’s relation to his enemies is unusual, even for a prophet.We ought to wonder at his charity, but that charity is a model for what we should imitate in our own lives. It isn’t easy to do that. Anyone who has been humiliated or seriously hurt by another knows how difficult is forgiveness, the love that imitates Christ’s redeeming love. It may be that, except for Jesus Christ, we have no better model than Moroni.As we will see, Moroni takes that love to be the heart of the gospel.”

“Sealings and Mercies: Moroni's Final Exhortations in Moroni 10,” 

James E. Faulconer https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1509&context=jbms

Read Moroni 10:3-4

1. What does Moroni want the Lamanites (and all of us) to remember and ponder?

2. Why does he want readers to meditate on this topic?

3. Why is an understanding of this topic an essential preface to the exhortation of verse 4?

4. What are “these things” Moroni refers to when he says “ye shall receive these things” in verse 4? 5. Why is God referred to here as “the Eternal Father” rather than by one of His other titles?

6. What is Moroni teaching about the Savior by saying readers must ask “in the name of Christ?”

7. What does it mean to “know the truth of all things?”

MEEKNESS

For further understanding see Doctrine and Covenants 97:1-2. Meekness includes "seeking diligently to learn wisdom and to find truth." 

“The point is for us to see God’s long-suffering mercies for his people.As we read scripture, do we see those mercies? As we read of those mercies, do we recognize them as a prototype for what happens in our own lives, or do we see instead only our failures? If the latter, then we implicitly use our own will and power as the measure for our lives and deny the mercy of God. Moroni exhorts—urgently appeals to—the Lamanites to stop looking at the world in terms of their own power and their own will, for if they do they will ultimately see only a record of failure and destruction. But if, instead, they see the mercies with which God has blessed their ancestors and them, they will understand their lives in a completely different way.They will see themselves as children of God rather than masters of their own fate.As children of God, they will experience the happiness brought through his mercy.”

“Clearly Moroni urges his readers to want to know that truth. But their ultimate intent, that on which their gaze should be fixed, is salvation, which is why they must have faith in Christ.The truth of the Book of Mormon may seem irrelevant if we are not concerned about our salvation, and our salvation is impossible if we do not have faith in Christ. So the Lamanites are told to ask God to tell them, in his mercy, whether the record is true, and they must do so with their whole being, with a gaze fixed on salvation and with faith in the mercy of their Savior, Jesus Christ.”

“Sealings and Mercies: Moroni's Final Exhortations in Moroni 10,” James E. Faulconer https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1509&context=jbms

 

ZOOM Invitation for April 28

Below is the link for our ZOOM class on Tuesday, April 28 at 9:30 a.m. This will be the last class of the year. I look forward to seeing you!

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Moroni 1-7

Following are the quotes and the link for the recording from class on Tuesday, April 21.

We did not get through all of the material on Tuesday, so we will finish up chapter 7 next week.

READING ASSIGNMENT FOR APRIL 28

Moroni 7: 40 - Moroni 10

RECORDING LINK

https://zoom.us/rec/share/-d5INZLiqFJJG4ns5xnuX6MmBp_7eaa813Qf-PFenhpYnSAMS-O04vZ2uf2Vxam5?startTime=1587486666000

MORONI

“The moral of the story comes through loud and painfully clear:‘Give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than that which we have been.’ Just maybe the cataclysms that erase nations and encroach on our own soil are not inevitable. Just maybe we are given reason here for hope.
This is itself an amazing dimension of the Book of Mormon, given its apocalyptic perspective, stark deathbed scenes, dark focus on the gloomy end of all things: the hope that shines through it. I am sometimes given to gloominess and to the pervasive pessimism of my own time, so I harbor a deep respect for hope. If ever hope were earned, it is this optimism pervading the Book of Mormon narrative, even in the face of the end of all things. ... Seeing what he has seen, that Moroni is able to still promote the idea of being ‘holy without spot’ inclines me to think it may be possible.”

Steve Walker, https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/sites/default/files/archive-files/pdf/walker/ 2016-02-04/07_steve_walker_last_words_readers_book_of_mormon_2008.pdf

 THE SACRAMENT PRAYERS

“The sacrament prayers used in the time of Moroni were closely based on the very words that Christ Himself spoke when He visited the Book of Mormon peoples.The words of Christ were likely used to replace the language of an already rich history of covenant making rituals among the Nephites, but the replacement still preserved some of the verbiage from their traditional covenant renewal ceremony.As BYU Professor JohnW. Welch has noted, 'It seems that Nephite texts and traditions have combined and coalesced beautifully into the final sacrament prayers in Moroni 4–5.’”

“One particularly noteworthy phrase appears in the prayers as found in Moroni 4–5 that was not included in the recorded words of Christ in 3 Nephi 18 — “that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son” (Moroni 4:3).As shown in the above table, that phrase parallels King Benjamin’s words as he put his people under covenant to take upon themselves the name of Christ (Mosiah 5:8) about 150 years before the appearance of Christ at the temple in Bountiful.”

“Readers may note that the prayers used by the modern Church today, as found in Doctrine and Covenants 20:76–79, are almost exactly the same words recorded in Moroni 4–5. It is significant that these words are essentially the words that Christ spoke (and perhaps what He would speak if present) when He introduced the ordinance Himself in 3 Nephi 18.The prayers recorded by Moroni demonstrate an effort to keep the prayers as close to Jesus’ own words as possible.
Moroni was careful to record these precious sacrament prayers precisely, because they were sacred, were based on the actual words of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, and conveyed through the sacramental ordinance the powers of the sacrificed body and atoning blood of Christ. In addition, those words also communicated the power of the Holy Ghost and aligned the will of the Father with ordinary men and women who seek to keep his commandment.To serve these holy purposes, Moroni was careful to convey the words of these prayers with solemn exactness.”

https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/where-did-moroni-get-the-sacramental-prayers-from

 THE LIGHT OF CHRIST

“The light of Christ is just what the words imply: enlightenment, knowledge, and an uplifting, enabling, persevering influence that comes upon mankind because of Jesus Christ. The light of Christ fills the ‘immensity of space’ and is the means by which Christ is able to be ‘in all things, and is through all things, and is round all things.’
The light of Christ should not be confused with the personage of the Holy Ghost, for the light of Christ is not a personage at all. Its influence is preliminary to and preparatory to one’s receiving the Holy Ghost.”

Bible Dictionary, Gospel Library,“Light of Christ”

“The light of Christ is the means by which members of the Godhead are omnipresent, and also the means through which the Holy Ghost communicates gifts and blessings to all mankind.”

Joseph Fielding Smith, 1:40, 54

Invitation for April 21

Below is the invitation link for class on Tuesday. No password required. See you then!

Topic: Moroni 1-7

Time: Apr 21, 2020 09:30 AM Arizona

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Recording from April 14

ZOOM released the need for a password to watch the recording of class last week. You should be able to click the link and go directly to the recording. Also, classes will be deleted after two weeks because of storage requirements. I hope this helps those of you who want to watch the recording of Ether 7-15.

https://zoom.us/rec/share/791-Ba3U1EJOGbOcr371ZKUIG7_oaaa81yYa_6cKzEaf9qazLEqemoBc5tk_PlUJ?startTime=1586881767000

Reading Adjustment for April 21

I would like to include Moroni chapter 7 in our discussion on Tuesday, so please read Moroni 1-7 instead of 1-6. I look forward to our discussion and your perspective on Moroni's counsel as we near the end of the Book of Mormon. See you Tuesday!

Password for Recording

It has been brought to my attention that the recording for Tuesday’s class may require a password. However, it doesn’t seem to always require it. ZOOM has had some security breaches during classes and I think they working hard to keep up with it all. If the recording requires a password, it is k3&U7297. Please email me at debratolman75@gmail.com if you need help. Thanks for your patience!

Ether 7-15

READING FOR APRIL 21

Moroni 1-6

LAST CLASS OF THE YEAR WILL BE APRIL 28

  

Following are the link to the recording of Tuesday's class and the quotes. If you have time, please read the articles by Francine Bennion and Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. Their thoughts are particularly important in our current circumstances. Thank you for your comments and your thoughtful participation. 

https://zoom.us/rec/share/791-Ba3U1EJOGbOcr371ZKUIG7_oaaa81yYa_6cKzEaf9qazLEqemoBc5tk_PlUJ?startTime=1586881767000

 BOOK OF ETHER

“First, unlike the other two Book of Mormon migratory peoples,

the Jaredites (as we call them) are not Jews under the Law of Moses. They’re not even Israelite (also a late term) or Canaanite,

but Mesopotamian. So they are operating under a different set of religious ideas, different language (Sumerian, Akkadian, something else? Hebrew isn’t an option), different cultural background than the rest of the Book of Mormon. And indeed, Ether has a different feel to it than the rest. It’s largely political history, stories of wars between scheming royal families, imprisonment, regicide, etc.”

“We need to take careful account of the text, and not go beyond it, leaping to conclusions. The first issue is that Ether is, I think, the most heavily edited and translated book we have. Records of some kind are kept by the Jaredites and centuries later, edited and compiled by Ether.These plates are then translated by Mosiah. 500 years later, they are re-edited by Moroni who makes expansive and editorializing commentary into the Book of Mormon, and then they are translated again by Joseph Smith. So although it appears we are reading an immediate first-hand eyewitness account of a tower and language change, in actuality that record passed through lots of minds and editing, who we know inserted their own comments to the record.”

Ben Spackman, https://www.patheos.com/blogs/benjaminthescribe/2016/11/bom-gospel-doctrine- lesson-45-46-ether/

 BOOK OF ETHER

“When people think of the book of Ether in the Book of Mormon, they often remember scenes of deception, darkness, and bloodshed.This is not all that surprising, for indeed the book of Ether contains much of these kinds of things.The text speaks of a time of terrible wickedness when ‘all the people upon the face of the land were shedding blood, and there was none to restrain them.’ All the men kept their swords in their hands and no one would lend anything to another because no one was trustworthy in all the land. These unrestrained contentions led to so much bloodshed ‘that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead.And so swift and speedy was the war that there was none left to bury the dead, . . . leaving the bodies of both men, women, and children strewed upon the face of the land, to become prey to the worms of the flesh.And the scent thereof went forth upon the face of the land.’ Because ‘the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed,’ all the Jaredites ‘were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine.’ The final bloodbath culminated when Coriantumr decapitated Shiz, leaving only Coriantumr and Ether alive.

When we read the bloody conclusion of Ether, the following statement by the Lord to the brother of Jared at the commencement of the record seems strange:‘There [in the promised land] will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me . . . a seed, upon all the face of the earth.’ We wonder why Moroni included all that wickedness if the Jaredites were such a “great nation” and whether the record contained on the gold plates was, as Moroni said,‘of great worth.’”

Frank Judd, Jr. https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/jaredite-zion-societies-hope-better-world

 JAREDITE RECORD AND MOSIAH

“The Jaredite record had come into the hands of Mosiah and had been translated by the power of God. He couldn’t ignore its messages and applications to his own situation.This stunning record, like a message from heaven, likely caused him to rethink his plans. Because the Jaredite legacy offered strong warnings against the abuses of kingship and power, Mosiah was influenced not to give the throne to someone other than his heir apparent. Knowing how the Jaredites had turned away from God as their heavenly king also influenced Mosiah to stress the accountability of all people to answer equally and individually to God for their sins (Mosiah 29:38).”

“Seeing the historical grounding of this cautionary counsel makes Mosiah’s warning all the more potent as a forewarning to readers in the latter days. This was no idle threat, nor was it merely hyperbole in a war of competing ideologies. It was based on the outcome of real historical events Mosiah had become familiar with while translating the Jaredite record. As such, it stands as a witness and warning to modern readers, underscoring the importance of collectively making righteous choices as a society.”

https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/what-do-the-jaredites-have-to-do-with-the- reign-of-the-judges

 WEAKNESS

“We might define weakness as the limitation on our wisdom, power, and holiness that comes with being human.As mortals we are born helpless and dependent, with various physical flaws and predispositions.We are raised and surrounded by other weak mortals, and their teachings, examples, and treatment of us are faulty and sometimes damaging. In our weak, mortal state we suffer physical and emotional illness, hunger, and fatigue.We experience human emotions like anger, grief, and fear.We lack wisdom, skill, stamina, and strength.And we are subject to temptations of many kinds.”

“There is another, even more powerful way that God makes weak things strong unto us.The Lord says to Moroni in Ether 12:37,“Because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.”

Here God is not offering to change Moroni’s weakness, but to change Moroni. By tackling the challenge of human weakness, Moroni—and we—can learn charity, compassion, meekness, patience, courage, long-suffering, wisdom, stamina, forgiveness, resilience, gratitude, creativity, and a host of other virtues that make us more like our Father in Heaven.These are the very qualities we came to earth to hone, the Christlike attributes that prepare us for the mansions above.

Nowhere is God’s love, wisdom, and redemptive power more evident than in His ability to turn our struggle with human weakness into the invaluable godly virtues and strengths that make us more like Him.”

Wendy Ulrich, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2015/04/it-isnt-a-sin-to-be-weak?lang=eng

 A LATTER-DAY SAINT THEOLOGY OF SUFFERING

“We wanted life, however high the cost.We suffer because we were willing to pay the cost of being and of being here with others in their ignorance and inexperience as well as our own.We suffer because we are willing to pay the costs of living with laws of nature, which operate quite consistently whether or not we understand them or can manage them.We suffer because, like Christ in the desert, we apparently did not say we would come only if God would change all our stones to bread in time of hunger.We were willing to know hunger. Like Christ in the desert, we did not ask God to let us try falling or being bruised only on condition that he catch us before we touch ground and save us from real hurt. We were willing to know hurt. Like Christ, we did not agree to come only if God would make everyone bow to us and respect us, or admire us and understand us. Like Christ, we came to be ourselves, addressing and creating reality.We are finding out who we are and who we can become regardless of immediate environment or circumstances.

What is the point of that? What is the point of knowing reality and being ourselves, of suffering? Why did this matter so much?

One reason we were willing to pay the high costs of continuing to address reality and become ourselves is that God told us we can become more like himself.We can become more abundantly alive, with ultimate fulness of truth, joy, and love—fulness impossible for souls unable to take real part in creating it, souls ignorant of good or evil, pleasure or pain, souls afraid of the unknown.”

Francine R. Bennion, https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/at-the-pulpit/part-4/Chapter-43?lang=eng

 CHRIST AND THE WORK OF SUFFERING

“Christ worked mightily in the final hours of his life. He struggled quietly in the Garden of Gethsemane, heavy with the sicknesses of humankind, lonely and pressed down. He stood raw and wounded, enduring the banal cruelty of magistrate and mob. He bore his burden through Jerusalem’s crowded streets. Exposed, he called for water, but tasted vinegar.The weight of his body dragged on his nail-pierced hands and on his lungs, arresting his breath. He witnessed his mother’s torment and could do nothing for her. Alone, he cried out into the darkness, unable to hear God’s voice.Then finally his task was finished. Having experienced suffering, one develops power over it — not the power to stop it, or take it away from someone you love, but to know its sorrows fade. Having experienced suffering, one receives power from it — the power to share others’ burdens and be humble, to see one’s own burdens and be kind. On the other side of suffering is strength. It is a peculiar sort of confidence that derives from having had no confidence at all.Things that once seemed difficult are now no trouble, and things that seemed like trouble now reveal themselves as gifts. People who once seemed vexing, inexplicable, or foreign now strike me as familiar because they have known pain. People who once seemed broken and tainted with ruin while I imagined myself to be whole are now my sisters and brothers.Truly, now I know that I am nothing, which thing I never had supposed.”

Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/christ-and-the-work-of-suffering/

ZOOM Invitation for April 14

Following is the link to join class on Tuesday. Zoom updated their software and have discontinued the need for a password. Clicking on the link should take you directly to the meeting. See you Tuesday!

Topic: Ether 7-15
Time: Apr 14, 2020 09:30 AM Arizona

Join Zoom Meeting

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Meeting ID: 970 5471 4231

To Join By Phone:

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Meeting ID: 970 5471 4231

Ether 1-6

LINK FOR RECORDING OF APRIL 7 

https://zoom.us/rec/share/x-Vbcq_r_XtJQs_kthH4cbA5F7z7eaa80CIZ-vIEyRxwcgHEeIhho_-Px47mF8De?startTime=1586276978000

READING FOR NEXT WEEK

Ether 6-15

Following are the quotes from our class discussion. Thanks for being here today and adding to the discussion.

BROTHER OF JARED

“One of the greatest . . . prophets in the Book of Mormon—indeed, a very strong case could be made for calling him the greatest of the prophets in the Book of Mormon—goes unnamed in the record that documents Christ’s remarkable life.That prophet is identified to the modern reader only as “the brother of Jared.” Yet even in such near anonymity, the revelation that unfolded before this man’s eyes was so extraordinary that his life and legacy to us have become synonymous with bold, consummate, perfect faith.”

“In the dispersion required of them at the time of the Tower of Babel, the people of Jared arrived at “the great sea which divideth the lands” (Ether 2:13), where they pitched their tents, awaiting further revelation regarding the crossing of a mighty ocean. For four years they awaited divine direction, but apparently they waited too casually—without supplication and exertion.

. . . It is difficult to imagine what a three-hour rebuke from the Lord might be like, but the brother of Jared endured it.With immediate repentance and immediate prayer, this prophet once again sought guidance for the journey they had been assigned and for those who were to pursue it. God accepted his repentance and lovingly gave further direction for this crucial mission.”

Jeffery R. Holland, https://rsc.byu.edu/voice-my-servants/rending-veil-unbelief

 BARGES

“For such an oceanic crossing, these families and their flocks needed seaworthy crafts similar to the barges they had constructed for earlier water travel—small, light, dish-shaped vessels identical in design above and beneath so that they were capable of staying afloat even when facing overwhelming waves or, worse yet, when they might be overturned by them. These “exceedingly tight” crafts (Ether 2:17) were obviously boats of unprecedented design and undiminished capability, made under the direction of Him who ruled the seas and the winds that rend them, to the end that the vessels might travel with the “lightness of a fowl upon the water” (Ether 2:16).”

Jeffery R. Holland, https://rsc.byu.edu/voice-my-servants/rending-veil-unbelief

 BROTHER OF JARED

“Surely God, as well as the reader, feels something very striking in the childlike innocence and fervor of this man’s faith.‘Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this.’ Perhaps there is no more powerful single line of faith spoken by man in scripture. It is almost as if he is encouraging God, emboldening Him, reassuring Him. Not “Behold, O Lord, I am sure that thou canst do this.” Not “Behold, O Lord, thou hast done many greater things than this.” However uncertain the prophet is about his own ability, he has no uncertainty about God’s power.There is nothing here but a single, clear, bold, and assertive declaration with no hint or element of vacillation. It is encouragement to Him who needs no encouragement but who surely must have been touched by it.‘Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this.’”

“A final—and in terms of the faith of the brother of Jared (which is the issue at hand) surely the most

persuasive—explanation for me is that Christ is saying to the brother of Jared,‘Never have I showed myself unto man in this manner, without my volition, driven solely by the faith of the beholder.’ As a rule, prophets are invited into the presence of the Lord, are bidden to enter His presence by Him and only with His sanction.The brother of Jared, on the other hand, stands alone then (and we assume now) in having thrust himself through the veil, not as an unwelcome guest but perhaps technically an uninvited one. Says Jehovah,‘Never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so ye could not have seen my finger. . . . Never has man believed in me as thou hast.’. Obviously the Lord Himself is linking unprecedented faith with this unprecedented vision. If the vision is not unique, then it has to be the faith— and how the vision is obtained—that is so remarkable.The only way this faith could be so remarkable would be in its ability to take this prophet, uninvited, where others had only been able to go by invitation.

Indeed it would appear that this is Moroni’s own understanding of the circumstance, for he later writes, ‘Because of the knowledge [which has come as a result of faith] of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the veil.     . . .‘Wherefore, having this perfect knowledge of God, he could not be kept from within the veil; therefore he saw Jesus’”

“No, this may be an absolutely unprecedented case of a prophet’s will and faith and purity so closely approaching that of heaven’s that the man moves from understanding God to being actually like Him, with His same thrust of will and faith, at least in this one instance.What a remarkable doctrinal statement about the power of a mortal man’s faith! And not an ethereal, unreachable, select category of a man, either.This is one who once forgot to call upon the Lord, one whose best ideas focused on rocks, and one who doesn’t even have a traditional name in the book that has immortalized his remarkable feat of faith. Given such a man with such faith, it should not be surprising that the Lord would show this prophet much, show him visions that would be relevant to the mission of all the Book of Mormon prophets and to the events of the latter-day dispensation in which the book would be received.

After the prophet stepped through the veil to behold the Savior of the world, he was not limited in seeing the rest of what the eternal world revealed. Indeed, the Lord showed him ‘all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto the ends of the earth’ (Ether 3:25).The staying power for such an experience was once again the faith of the brother of Jared, for ‘the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things’ (Ether 3:26).”

Jeffery R. Holland, https://rsc.byu.edu/voice-my-servants/rending-veil-unbelief

BROTHER OF JARED

“This interpretation helps reveal the stark contrast between the brother of Jared, the father of the noncovenant people to which Moroni would draw the attention of his gentile readers, and Abraham, the father of the covenant people on which the rest of the Book of Mormon focuses.Where Abraham is definitively the called one, the one who—unlike Adam before him— responded to God’s call with ‘Here am I!’ (see especially Genesis 22:1, 7, 11), the brother of Jared is the uncalled or unbidden but nonetheless faithful one. As a model for the similarly uncalled Gentiles, the brother of Jared displays a sort of non-Abrahamic faith that, if imitated by Gentiles generally, can result in ‘the unfolding [of] all [of God’s] revelations’ (Ether 4:7).”

Jospeh Spencer, https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1557&context=jbms

BROTHER OF JARED

“The Book of Mormon is predicated on the willingness of men and women to ‘rend that veil of unbelief ’ in order to behold the revelations—and the Revelation—of God (Ether 4:15). It would seem that the humbling experience of the brother of Jared in his failure to pray and his consternation over the sixteen stones were included in this account to show just how mortal and just how normal he was—so very much like the men and women we know and at least in some ways so much like ourselves. His belief in himself and his view of himself may have been limited—much like our view of ourselves. But his belief in God was unprecedented. It was without doubt or limit: ‘I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger' (Ether 3:4). And from that command given to the Lord, for it does seem to be something of a command, the brother of Jared and the reader of the Book of Mormon would never be the same again. Ordinary individuals with ordinary challenges could rend the veil of unbelief and enter the realms of eternity. And Christ, who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem His people, would be standing at the edge of that veil to usher the believer through.”

Jeffery R. Holland, https://rsc.byu.edu/voice-my-servants/rending-veil-unbelief

ZOOM Invitation for April 7

Below is the link to join class on Tuesday, April 7. 

PLEASE NOTE: ZOOM IS NOW REQUIRING A PASSWORD FOR ALL MEETINGS. YOU CAN FIND IT JUST BELOW THE LINK FOR THE MEETING. I HAVE HIGHLIGHTED IT IN RED. 

We will be discussing Ether 1-6. See you then!

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/624363283

Password: 344399

Meeting ID: 624 363 283

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Meeting ID: 624 363 283

Password: 344399