Genesis 4-5; Moses 5-7

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Genesis 6-11, Moses 8

ENOCH

“There is no single event or influence in the life of Jospeh Smith that was more transformative and shaping of his future ministry than encountering Enoch as a figure.”

Terryl Givens, BYU Maxwell Institute Podcast

ENOCH’S INFLUENCE ON JOSEPH SMITH

“The Enoch text sowed the seeds of Mormonism’s most distinctive and vibrant doctrines: It produced the most emphatic version of a passible deity the Christian world then knew (a God of passions and emotions). It catalyzed Latter-day Saint understanding of and enthusiasm for the doctrine of premortal existence. It foreshadowed, and might more vitally inform, the church’s distinctive doctrine of theosis or divinization. And perhaps most importantly, it provided Joseph with the distinctive contours of his own prophetic vocation as a builder of Zion. If the Book of Mormon lent Joseph his indispensable aura of prophetic authority, the prophecy of Enoch provided a personal role model to inspire him and a blueprint to direct him.”

Terryl Givens, https://www.terrylgivens.com/talks/2021/5/19/the-prophecy-of-enoch-as-restoration-blueprint

A GOD WHO WEEPS

“Clearly, Enoch, who believed God to be “merciful and kind forever,” did not expect such a being could be moved to the point of distress by the sins of His children. And so a third time he asks, ‘how is it thou canst weep?’ The answer, it turns out, is that God is not exempt from emotional pain. Exempt? On the contrary, God’s pain is as infinite as His love. He weeps because He feels compassion. It is not their wickedness, but their “misery,” not their disobedience, but their “suffering,” that elicits the God of Heaven’s tears. Not until Gethsemane and Golgotha does the scriptural record reveal so unflinchingly the costly investment of God’s love in His people, the price at which He placed His heart upon them. There could be nothing in this universe, or in any possible universe, more perfectly good, absolutely beautiful, worthy of adoration, and deserving of emulation, than this God of love and kindness and vulnerability. That is why a gesture of belief in His direction, a decision to acknowledge His virtues as the paramount qualities of a divided universe, is a response to the best in us, the best and noblest of which the human soul is capable. A God without body or parts is conceivable. But a God without passions would engender in our hearts neither love nor interest. In the vision of Enoch, we find ourselves drawn to a God who prevents all the pain He can, assumes all the suffering He can, and weeps over the misery He can neither prevent nor assume.”

Givens, Terryl; Fiona Givens. The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life 

"Women Wielding Power: How the Women of the Old Testament Teach the Women of the Present Day." 

I keep forgetting to post my granddaughter's article. Grace is remarkable and I'm so grateful for her. Here is the link to the paper, "Women Wielding Power:How the Women of the Old Testament Teach the Women of the Present Day." 

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGllVlFGqjGKqRDDgbvLxCpPCpk?projector=1&messagePartId=0.1