David Journal

Tag: 1 Nephi

  • Understanding the context

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    David
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    Nephi was able to tell his brothers what the words of Isaiah meant because his vision had given him the context of what Isaiah was prophesying.

  • Israel among the gentiles

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    David
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    In many ways, what Isaiah said to Israel anciently applies to modern Christianity. They talk about Christ while frequently rejecting His doctrine. They invoke the name but forego the covenant path. Gentile Christians today done have the same covenant relationship that Old Testament Israel had but many of the same principles apply.

  • All things in their time

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    David
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    Because neighbor writes of things from the time they were in Jerusalem it is easy to assume that he was writing as he went but the reality is that he didn’t begin either of his records until after crossing to the promised land. Whether in the large plates or the small plates the record from…

  • Be ready to move

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    David
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    The biggest problem for Laman and Lemuel after they got to the land Bountiful was that they were content with where they were after their journey and not humble enough to accept the call to do more work to find a better land.

  • Origin stories

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    David
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    The common element of days never to be forgotten is that they constitute origin stories for people. Traveling through the wilderness was the origin story for the people of Nephi. The waters of Mormon were the origin story for the church led by Alma. The decade of 1820-1830 was the origin story for Joseph Smith…

  • There are only two churches

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    David
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    People can’t choose to be neutral on spiritual matters. They can be ignorant but they still make choices and if they choose good so far as they understand it they will be redeemed but once they have enough information to choose a side on spiritual matters they are counted along the church of the devil…

  • Why is the Lord’s course one eternal round?

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    David
    in

    I realize that good is able to not be turned to the right or to the left because of His infinite time scale—He’s not limited to accomplishing His purposes in 5 minutes, 5 years, or 5 decades—but also because no matter what happens He does not lose focus on His ultimate objective. The posterity of…

  • The tree of life

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    David
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    The Savior of the World is the Tree of Life Somehow I never considered that when Nephi was shown the meaning of the image of the tree of life he was shown the Savior’s entire mortal ministry before the vision moved on to any of the other elements of Lehi’s dream. The tree of life…

  • Base camp

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    David
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    I realize that this time in the valley of Lemuel is a starting point for Lehi and his family. They gather the records and the family of Ishmael and have an initial vision of what lies ahead which can guide them in the decisions that they will make going forward. This sets the foundation, culturally,…

  • Focused as a father

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    David
    in

    I notice that in Levi’s depiction of his vision of the tree of life he was fully focused on his family. Everything he talked about beyond his family was an explanation of context in which his family was operating.