"They Came Forth, and Fell Down, and Partook of the Fruit of the Tree" (Book of Mormon - Week Three)

Hey y'all! This is week number two of my Book of Mormon class, and it's been amazing. I left class about in tears on Wednesday because that class had answered my prayers so specifically that I was overwhelmed with feelings of love.

So we studied 1 Nephi 8 really in depth - this is Lehi's vision! We studied these words very carefully; because these verses get studied so often, I think we lose their deeper meaning. So Brother Griffin slowly blew my mind this class as we studied these words and painted this picture. I'm writing to those who are already familiar with Lehi's Vision. If you aren't and would like to learn more, read it here, and come back! As always, feel free to comment/contact me and ask questions.

I feel like there are so many amazing things in this chapter, but I just don't have the time to write them all down, and besides, I feel like the most precious gems discovered in the scriptures are the ones we come across as we meditate on our own, so do that. I'll talk about my favorite discovery.

We compared the two kinds of people on the path in the vision - the ideal travelers (who we want to be) and the apostates. We found many differences - the apostates were clinging to the rod, not "continually holding fast" to it, the apostates were ashamed that they needed to partake of the fruit, the apostates listened to the mocking of those in the great and spacious building, and most importantly, the apostates did not fall in front of the tree when they partook of the fruit, they looked around in shame. I also noticed that their intentions to take care of their sins were the same - both groups partook of the fruit (repented) - it was their attitudes that were different.

Verse thirty is what we should be aiming to become: "...other multitudes [were] pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree." Notice the sequence of events here. First they came forth, then fell down in front of the tree, and then partook of the fruit. Logically, that does not make sense. How could they possibly partake of the fruit if they fell down first rather than reaching for it? It doesn't make sense, until you realize that the tree mentioned in the vision isn't a tree - it is Christ. All we have to do is work hard come to the tree (Come unto Christ), and fall at his feet, and He will bless us with His mercy by handing us the fruits (Atonement).

I don't believe that all we have to do is say we believe in Christ and then we're saved. I can't believe in a God who would be fine with a person who sins profusely, but then says "I believe in Christ" and then is forgiven with no change in action, because actions speak louder than words. I think we have to work hard to be true disciples of Christ, and only then is Christ's mercy enough for us. This totally is shown in the vision, though. These examples who fell at the tree are it. They fought their whole lives to stay on the strait (not straight, this also blew my mind) and narrow path, pushing against this river (sin and temptation), until they reached their destination, keeping in mind only the tree. When mentioning these choice disciples, the great and spacious building was never even mentioned. It was only mentioned with the apostates, which just shows how focused on the tree (Christ) the disciples were.

This seriously answered my prayers. I had been praying hard the previous night to figure out how to help a friend of mine who had called me really distraught because sinned and everyone around him became aware of it rather quickly. He was in a situation where the only way he could make things right also meant many people knowing what he had done. He was worried about what people would think, but loved God enough to not care about what anyone thought of him, though he noticed through the days that it became increasingly harder for him to ignore the opinions of others, even though he knew he was doing what God wanted of him. I knew at that point exactly what to tell him - he was doing exactly what he needed by following his promptings to repent, despite what anyone else thought. Just as the choice disciples in Lehi's vision, he needed to ignore the "great and spacious building" of people pointing fingers and mocking him. He was utilizing the atonement, and as long as he wasn't ashamed, and put Heavenly Father's opinion of him over anyone else's, he would make it to the tree, come forth, fall down, and partake of the fruit.

The same goes for all of us. Those voices from the great and spacious building sure are loud, but just keep doing you, and keep doing your best, and you're going to be just fine.

Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Book of Mormon - Week Two)

First things first, I feel I should explain this post.

I'm in Brother Griffin's Book of Mormon class here at the Y. So far I LOVE his class. I get so much more out of it than I did in my seminary classes in high school. One of his assignments is to talk about something we learned about the Book of Mormon this week. We can either write an email or a blog post. You can expect a post like this once a week, probably on either Sunday nights or Monday mornings.

If you aren't of the LDS faith, I encourage you to look at both mormon.org and LDS.org for more information, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all! I also know two guys in white shirts who would love to be of assistance if you'll have them. :)

So basically, we have this book of additional scripture called the Book of Mormon. You've probably heard of it. Ignore any of the weird things you've heard about it and hear this - the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. Hear that? Another, meaning it is partnered with the Bible, not something to be studied in lieu of the Bible. If there is interest in the very basics of the Book of Mormon, I can write a post for that (let me know if you're interested). But for now, I'm just going to write for those who are already of the LDS faith.

The Book of Mormon took on an additional few words to its title in 1982 - "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." I like that it gives mention to Jesus Christ in the very title, declaring to the world that we, as members of the LDS faith, are indeed Christians (depending on how you define Christian - here I am defining "Christian" as one who believes in Christ and strives to be a disciple of Him in word AND deed).

After outlining this, Brother Griffin told us a story. Long story short, he was asked to write lesson plans for an online seminary class (religious class, for those of you who aren't familiar with this), and after review, he was told that he had emphasized too much on Christ. He was perplexed - this in indeed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, how could he have emphasized Christ too much? Is there such a thing as too much emphasis on Christ?

But then Brother Griffin said something very significant to me - what is Jesus Christ's purpose? To bring people back to Heavenly Father and His plan.

And that was his issue with the lesson plan. He had talked about Jesus Christ multiple times throughout every lesson, but not once did he mention Heavenly Father.

This is a big concern, not only in the LDS church, but throughout many Christian churches, and I didn't realize it until Brother Griffin pointed it out to me. Heavenly Father has delegated Jesus Christ to many wonderful things. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, not the Church of Heavenly Father. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, not of Heavenly Father. One primary song says, "I'm trying to be like Jesus," not "I'm trying to be like Heavenly Father." I'm not undermining what Christ has done for me. It is through His mercy and sacrifice that I can ever attain even the smallest measure of true happiness. He is my older brother and best friend. He loves me so much that He suffered and died for my sins and pains personally, not just the overall sins and pains of the world (He did that for you too, by the way, whether you consider yourself religious or not). What I'm saying is that Heavenly Father has given Christ delegation over many things because Jesus Christ's main purpose is to bring us back to Heavenly Father and what He would want us to be, and we need to remember that.

Also, the fact that Christ has been delegated so many things really emphasizes how important the very few things Heavenly Father has reserved for himself are - namely prayer. We pray to Heavenly Father in Jesus' name. God gave Christ delegation over many things, but because He loves us so much, God wouldn't give up our chance to communicate with Him. He allowed Christ to be involved, but God still delegates over prayer. Next time you think twice about saying your prayers, or find yourself mumbling the words out of habit, think about that. Heavenly Father wants to hear from you so badly that He has reserved the power of prayer for himself, despite all of the great things He gave to Christ. Let Him really know what's going on with you.