but i've been thinking about how i still haven't read hardly 1 chapter in the Book of Mormon and i thought i remembered having the Cd's, so i looked, and i found them! i decided to start out with the title page and go from there. so i listen and follow along in my book...it goes so much quicker for some reason!!
one thing that caught my attention was in the Testimony of Joseph Smith at the beginning of the Book of Mormon, when the Angel Moroni appears to him the first time he tells him about the gold plates and the Urimum and Thumim, and says when he gets them he can't show them to anyone, except those the Lord commands him to show to, for if he did, he should be destroyed. wow. that's pretty powerful. can you remember when someone would tell us something in confidence, and tell us not to say anything to anyone, and it was HUGE...how hard was it to keep the secret? and to think if there was a "if you tell anyone you'll die" that's huge. not that Joseph would show just anyone, but there were lots of people trying anyway possible to get their hands on these plates, and that's such a huge responsibility. i mean, of course that is nothing new for all of Joseph's life he had that kind of responsibility to bear, but just taking it piece by piece. this time that i read through the Book of Mormon, i am really trying to put myself in their shoes, and see what they didn't get a chance to write down. read between the lines if you will, and see how i would feel, and just generally relate it to my day and my life. would i do what was commanded if this happened in our day?
So of course in the first chapter of 1 Nephi, Lehi has a vision and reads and sees the destruction of Jerusalem and prophecies about what he saw and read to the Jews, basically telling them how wicked they are, and bringing to light all the horrible things they do. so can you imagine someone walking the streets calling out all the bad things you do, and telling you that you'll be destroyed because of your wickedness? i just picture alot of people offended. so i can understand that they had to flee because he made the Jews mad by telling them these things. but can you even imagine in our day being persecuted to the point where we have to run away and hide in the woods...leaving everything we own behind, except the bare essentials like food and water, clothing and tents??? because Lehi's family was very wealthy, so they left behind alot. it is so hard to imagine that. it sure makes me feel a lot less tied to some material possessions. i mean, i guess that was the Lord's point, none of it means anything anyway, it won't get you your salvation. but the world has always, from the very beginning been about wordly possessions. so it's hard to be in the world but not of the world.
you know. this time around, i feel like instead of this being scripture, it's a deep novel, that has a unique story to tell about people who aren't much different from you and I. so i can understand why things happened the way they did, and hopefully, i can learn from these people's mistakes. that's the reason the Lord gave these books to us! easier said than done right?
2 comments:
I've still been reading, intermittently. On chapter 12 i think. I've reread back a couple of chapters when it's been a couple of days in between reading. I have noticed I sleep so much better if I read before i go to bed and if i dream, the dreams are pleasant. I'm trying to write a few thoughts down on what i read too. I see things so much differently now and get different meanings than i did just a few years ago...expected i know. My attitude about life is better too, not that it was bad, I have been on the spiral up from hell. Guess i would say my wallowing moments are less and less and last shorter and shorter. This is good! The trek into the wilderness and the struggles they have with listening to the spirit and discerning what to do is so like our lives today isn't. It can be rather difficult if we let it be to weed through the crap and focus on the good. I don't know about you guys but my biggest obstical has ALWAYS been myself! So here's to getting out of my own way!
I like the way you think about this Omi. Makes me want to start over and look at it that way. Interesting perspective. I need to get those on CD too. I just wish the one in my car worked. That would be awesome for Markus too. And we can be together and discuss it. O this sounds good.
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