Sunday, June 13, 2010

Doctrine And Covenants sections 5-6

Section five is about what God tells Brother Joseph Smith after Martin Harris wants to be one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon.

Verse four says that Joseph Smith was given the gift to translate from God and I think part of the reason that was put in there was so that we could know that the gift was from God and Joseph wasn’t faking.

In this section it says that the testimony of the three witnesses will be added along with Joseph’s and they will be given power to view the plates as they are and they will know that they are true for God will declare unto them for heaven. “Their testimony shall go forth unto the condemnation of this generation if they harden their hearts against them.” But if we believe on God’s words he will make it known unto us that there are true by the Holy Ghost and “they shall be born of me, even of water and of the Spirit.”

Verse twenty says that God’s word is verified as it has been verified before. When He said that Jerusalem would be destroyed, it was destroyed. When He said “let there be light,” there was light. So whatever He says it will be done. In one of the earlier sections it said that even if the earth pass away, His word won’t pass away and shall be fulfilled.

Verses twenty-one and twenty-two-- I liken unto myself when God tells Joseph Smith to “repent and walk more uprightly before me, and to yield to the persuasions of men no more; and that you be firm in keeping the commandments of wherewith I have commanded you; and if ye do this, behold I grant unto you eternal life, even if you should be slain.”

Verse 35: “And if thou art faithful in keeping my commandments, thou shalt be lifted up at the last day. Amen.”

Bible book of Mormon

God’s word is quick and powerful and even sharper than a double-edged sword unto the dividing asunder of joints and marrow. So when God says something, we should listen to him.

Section six verses three and four talk about Missionary work and it says that if we work in the mission field with our might all the day long, we will treasure up for our souls everlasting salvation. “Whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap the same is called of God.”

Verse seven says that we shouldn’t seek for riches but for wisdom, and God’s mysteries will be unfolded to us. Reading that made me think of Jacob 2: 18-19, which is a scripture mastery that I memorized this year; it says that we should seek for the kingdom of God before we seek for riches, then after we have a hope in Christ we will get riches if we seek them, and we should seek them for the intent to do good.

Verse eight says that if we desire, we “shall be the means of doing much good in this generation.” We see and hear a lot about how people of the church have done good things that they do then I think how amazing the impact they make is. They change their schools and communities by little things they do. I remember one instance where a young man –I don’t know where he lives- started a no cussing club or something like that at his school, then I think his community did it too and eventually it got to where the Mayor elected a No Cussing day or week of the year. So one thing we do can change someone, and it may not even be someone we know… but we can make a change.

Verse fourteen says that if we had not been inquiring of the Lord and receiving instruction from the Holy Spirit, we would not be where we are today.

Verses 22-24 say that if we want a further witness, we should cast our minds upon the time that we cried to the Lord in our hearts to know if these things are true. Didn’t He speak peace to our hearts? The greatest witness we can receive is of the Lord. If He tells us of things that no earthly man knows we have received a witness.

Part of verse 28 says that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” After reading this I found John 8:17 which says “It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.” Then I found 2 Nephi 27:14 which part of it says “Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word…” The Book of Mormon has eleven witnesses, so there should be no doubt that it is established truth. And in the Introduction Joseph says that it is the most correct of any book in the world.

Verses 33-37 say that we should not fear to do good for if we do that, we shall receive good for our reward. If we are built upon Christ’s rock earth and heck combined cannot prevail against us. We should look unto the Lord in every thought and do not doubt or fear. We should believe, be faithful, and keep His commandments and we shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Joseph Smith Scripture Mastery report: “After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. And I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence (over me) as to bind my tongue (so) that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my power(s) to call upon God to deliver me from-(out of) the power of this enemy which entirely overcame me-(had seized upon me), and at the very moment when I was about-(ready) to sink in-(into) despair, to abandon myself to ruin-(destruction) –not to some-(an) imaginary ruin, but (to) the power of some (actual) being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being- just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.”

**The words in red are ones that I forgot or messed up on, but practice makes perfect!**

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Doctrine and Covenants 3-4

Section Three is what the Lord tells Joseph Smith after Martin Harris loses the one-hundred-sixteen pages. In that section I learn that if we are faithful and keep the commandments of God, He will extend His arm of mercy towards us and support us against the adversary.

Verse ten tells us that God is merciful and it’s my guess that there are people that think God might not be merciful and punish us immediately and forever for what we did wrong, but verse ten says otherwise. Here God is speaking to Joseph Smith but part of the Book of Mormon says to liken all scriptures unto us and that’s what I did. So God says to repent of what we did and we’ll still be chosen and are called again to the work.hearts

Verse 16 tells us of the knowledge of a Savior will come to God’s people. That’s saying that it’s not a rumor or a possibility that he will come, but a KNOWLEDGE, a firm sound truth.

The Lord preserved the plates so that the promises that he made to his people may be fulfilled and that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, know of the Lord’s promises and believe the gospel.

Section four talks of how the world is ready for Missionaries to go forth and preach the gospel.

It says that when we are on our missions we should serve God with all our “heart, might, mind and strength.” It also talks of what qualifies us for the work and they are to have “Faith, hope, charity, and love with an eye single to the glory of God.”

Joseph Smith Scripture Mastery report: “After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go , having looked around me and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so when I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence as to bind my tongue that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and I seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, just at the  very moment when I was about to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction –not to an imaginary ruin- but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being. Just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.“

**I had a couple of words wrong and a few switched, but I fixed them here and I’m going to work on this part until I have all the words right**

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Doctrine and Covenants 1-2

Section one, verses four and five talk about the voice of warning going to all people “by the mouths my disciples whom I have chosen in these last days.” and no one will keep them from doing so. And I heard somewhere that we are Disciples of Christ and it had me wondering if God was talking about this generation going on missions and spreading the gospel and giving warning to people.

Verse seven says that what God has decreed in this book shall be fulfilled, and that kind of makes me want to further read the Doctrine and Covenants to find out what’s going to happen.

Verses twenty through thirty-three states the purpose of the book… “That faith might increase in the earth; that mine everlasting covenant might be established;” and that the fullness of the gospel might be proclaimed by ordinary people to the entire world including kings and rulers.

God wants everyone to know of his gospel, no matter who you are or what your race and color are. Then it talks of peace being taken away and earth becoming chaotic and I’m going to guess that some people would be pretty scared about that. So I have comfort in what God says that the saints will have divine protection.

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Section two talks of performing ordinances for the dead; When verse two says “and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers,” it makes me think of going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead and that we’re not there because we were forced to, but because we want to be there.  We want to share with our ancestors the happiness that we have in being members of God’s church, having had our sins washed away and having the Spirit to be with us.  It also talks of Elijah bringing the priesthood back to the earth and I’m glad that he did, because if we didn’t have the priesthood we couldn’t perform these temple ordinances for the dead and help bring them to the truth.

Joseph Smith Scripture Mastery report: “And after I had retired to the place where I had previously designed, having looked around me and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began pouring out the desires of my heart to God…”

Monday, May 17, 2010

What am I doing here?

I want to read the Doctrine and Covenants this Summer before Seminary so that I can have a feel for it. I also want to memorize the 5-looooong verses of the Joseph Smith History Scripture Mastery. 
The purpose of this blog is to record my thoughts about what I've read and to report my progress on the Scripture Mastery.

Joseph Smith history S.M. report:
"After I had retired...."