Helaman 2

10 And it came to pass that Helaman did send forth to take this band of robbers and secret murderers, that they might be executed according to the law.

So in those days, with good men as leaders, they believed in the Death penalty. What is the church's stance? Do they take one? This is a hot subject. I believe in the death penalty, but there are caveats. There needs to be 100% certainty that the people committed the crimes that sent them there. Innocent people have died and I'm not ok with that.

11 But behold, when Gadianton had found that Kishkumen did not return he feared lest that he should be destroyed; therefore he caused that his band should follow him. And they took their flight out of the land, by a secret way, into the wilderness; and thus when Helaman sent forth to take them they could nowhere be found.
12 And more of this Gadianton shall be spoken hereafter. And thus ended the forty and second year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
13 And behold, in the end of this book ye shall see that this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi.

That's sad. I don't like when whole peoples die.

Mormon 6

12 And we also beheld the ten thousand of my people who were led by my son Moroni.
13 And behold, the ten thousand of Gidgiddonah had fallen, and he also in the midst.
14 And Lamah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Gilgal had fallen with his ten thousand; and Limhah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Jeneum had fallen with his ten thousand; and Cumenihah, and Moronihah, and Antionum, and Shiblom, and Shem, and Josh, had fallen with their ten thousand each.
15 And it came to pass that there were ten more who did fall by the sword, with their ten thousand each; yea, even all my people, save it were those twenty and four who were with me, and also a few who had escaped into the south countries, and a few who had deserted over unto the Lamanites, had fallen; and their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth.
16 And my soul was rent with anguish, because of the slain of my people, and I cried:
17 O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!

This would be so depressing. I would have had the same reaction. How horrid it would be to have to kill your brother because he was coming after you. It would be so terrible. And so sad.

3 Nephi 20

24 Verily I say unto you, yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have testified of me.
25 And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
26 The Father having raised me up unto you first, and sent me to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities; and this because ye are the children of the covenant—

That is some power, to be there and that makes the sin go away.

27 And after that ye were blessed then fulfilleth the Father the covenant which he made with Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed—unto the pouring out of the Holy Ghost through me upon the Gentiles, which blessing upon the gentiles shall make them mighty above all, unto the scattering of my people, O house of Israel.

Abraham's kids wrote the book of mormon.

28 And they shall be a scourge unto the people of this land. Nevertheless, when they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father.

Chris is confusing.

This verse says that Columbus is a jerk. But he had the holy ghost to discover America. Columbus ticks me off and I'm not going to start. The scriptures say he is a scourge, or he started the scourge and I'll leave it at that.

1 John 4

13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

I don't always think of it that way, that is a sweet way to see it.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

People have ruined this. It's a cool thing to say and mean it, but with all the kooks out there on sidewalks saying this to people who pass by, it almost sounds radical.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

These verses are why I needed to read this. There is fear in the love Chris and I have because I love him tons but I am scared at the same time. It's unwarranted, but it's there. I am afraid of the pain. I need to figure out how to fix it.

2 Peter 1

15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

It's amazing for someone to say they were an eyewitness to something like this. I've witnessed private miracles in my own life, but nothing so amazing that would change the world.

Helaman 7

21 But behold, it is to get gain, to be praised of men, yea, and that ye might get gold and silver. And ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world, for the which ye do murder, and plunder, and steal, and bear false witness against your neighbor, and do all manner of iniquity.

Doing bad things for gain is bad. Got it.

22 And for this cause wo shall come unto you except ye shall repent. For if ye will not repent, behold, this great city, and also all those great cities which are round about, which are in the land of our possession, shall be taken away that ye shall have no place in them; for behold, the Lord will not grant unto you strength, as he has hitherto done, to withstand against your enemies.

Repent or lose your leg to stand on. It never fails to amaze me when good guys forget simple things. Especially when they have seen so much good. The Israelites always come to mind... The Lord blesses you until you mess up too many times and lose his trust.

23 For behold, thus saith the Lord: I will not show unto the wicked of my strength, to one more than the other, save it be unto those who repent of their sins, and hearken unto my words. Now therefore, I would that ye should behold, my brethren, that it shall be better for the Lamanites than for you except ye shall repent.

I guess this is why we don't see as many "big" miracles like water to wine.

skip a few...

26 Yea, wo shall come unto you because of that pride which ye have suffered to enter your hearts, which has lifted you up beyond that which is good because of your exceedingly great riches!

I was warned in a blessing that I shouldn't lose too much weight because I might become haughty. This is the same thing, but with money.

I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of this.

D&C 7

5 I say unto thee, Peter, this was a good desire; but my beloved has desired that he might do more, or a greater work yet among men than what he has before done.

This is speaking directly to me about our adoption. It is a good desire, but a greater work is to come. That feels good. It's good to see it as something other than the greatest thing to come, which is how I had been looking at it.

Skipping two verses...

8 Verily I say unto you, ye shall both have according to your desires, for ye both joy in that which ye have desired.

This is good too, it's comforting. When I get a little crazy feeling inside about adopting, mostly about where the money is coming from and how fast I want it to come, I've been purposefully saying to myself, Let Go and Let God. As a reminder that when I let God take the reins, far greater things will happen than if I try and force it. This is a nice encouragement.

1 Chronicles 19

7 So they hired thirty and two thousand chariots, and the king of Maachah and his people; who came and pitched before Medeba. And the children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.
8 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.
9 And the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array before the gate of the city: and the kings that were come were by themselves in the field.
10 Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose out of all the choice of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians.

Ok, I must be missing something because I got no meaning out of this at all. I muscle tested it up several times that it's right. Don't know why...

The Testimony of Eight Witnesses

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shown unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken. And we give our names unto the world, to witness unto the world that which we have seen. And we lie not, God bearing witness of it.

Christian Whitmer
Jacob Whitmer
Peter Whitmer, Jun
John Whitmer
Hiram Page
Joseph Smith, Sen
Hyrum Smith
Samuel H. Smith

I like that this is included for our sake. However... When I was a young investigator, very stubborn and completely cynical... I thought, of course if you ask people who are in the church to write something like this, they would. So it's not a credible source. If someone who hated the church wrote this it would carry more weight. Whenever the missionaries would try and prove something to me using the Book of Mormon I felt like it was a waste of time, of course they could find answers there, but if the book wasn't true then it wouldn't matter!

I've been testing to read random stuff here...

A BRIEF EXPLANATION ABOUT THE BOOK OF MORMON

About this edition: Some minor errors in the text have been perpetuated in past editions of the Book of Mormon. This edition contains corrections that seem appropriate to bring the material into conformity with prepublication manuscripts and early editions edited by the Prophet Joseph Smith.


I don't know why I tested to read this...

I have noticed misspellings though if that's what it means.

2 Nephi 25

23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

The first thing I think of is journaling. The point of my journals isn't about believing in Christ. What is it intended for? It's a true account of my life, the things I go through and my personal thoughts about everything. It's a very emotion filled book. I want the people who read it to know exactly what my life was, no excuses, just truth. It's not pretty in a lot of places, it just is.

24 And, notwithstanding we believe in Christ, we keep the law of Moses, and look forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled.
25 For, for this end was the law given; wherefore the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ because of our faith; yet we keep the law because of the commandments.

... Just want to separate this part...

26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

This is what homes should be. Maybe not the prophesy part, but talking, rejoicing and teaching of Christ.

D&C 76

5 For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.
6 Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.

This is the shortest set of scriptures ever.

Doing service is just amazing. It's healing, uplifting, and good on so many levels. I should do more.

Brief explaination, Mormon 8

The longest portion, from Mosiah to Mormon, chapter 7, inclusive, is a translation of Mormon’s abridgment of the Large Plates of Nephi. The concluding portion, from Mormon, chapter 8, to the end of the volume, was engraved by Mormon’s son Moroni, who, after finishing the record of his father’s life, made an abridgment of the Jaredite record (as the Book of Ether) and later added the parts known as the Book of Moroni.

And here is part of Chapter 8

33 O ye wicked and perverse and stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled.

I guess this can be applied to costly houses as well. Don't have what you don't need. In excess at least. Don't have 10 rooms for 5 people...

34 Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.
35 Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.

This is one of my favorite verses.

36 And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.

I hope I can be counted as one of the few.

Joel 3

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
18 ¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.



I have absolutely nothing to say...

Joseph Smith Matthew 1, Ch 24

24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

Wow, reading this, I feel like it is directed right at me. This is something that I personally need to remember. I am in a time in my life where I believe things easily because I want to learn so much. This is a good admonition for me. Be wise, and wait.

D&C 46

15 And again, to some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know the differences of administration, as it will be pleasing unto the same Lord, according as the Lord will, suiting his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men.
16 And again, it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God, that the manifestations of the Spirit may be given to every man to profit withal.
17 And again, verily I say unto you, to some is given, by the Spirit of God, the word of wisdom.
18 To another is given the word of knowledge, that all may be taught to be wise and to have knowledge.
19 And again, to some it is given to have faith to be healed;

This is one I have. I have been healed of physical and emotional ailments several times, purely through faith. And begging for it.

20 And to others it is given to have faith to heal.
21 And again, to some is given the working of miracles;

I love miracles.

D&C 49

18 And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God;
19 For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.

This makes me think of the deer population which is exploding ever year. As animals go, they must be the most renewable besides small ones like bunnies. The huge amount of deer is a gift to those who need it!

20 But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.

This is an interesting verse. Many many many people lie in sin then if this is true. We have much more than some, but we aren't wasting so I don't know where we fall. We have wasted our money and possessions in the past, but we really aren't doing that anymore. We give away many things. I don't know if I am justifying... What do you think is meaning of this verse?

21 And wo be unto man that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need.

Don't even get me started on hunting for sport...

D&C 57

This was an interesting passage. It talked about the church saving money and working to obtain lands in Missouri for the good of the church. It called it an inheritance for the saints and the church.

It also said Zion is in Missouri which I know, and it's weird when people say it's in Utah.