David Journal

Tag: Joseph Smith History

  • 366 Days

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    by

    David
    in

    I never realized before that Joseph Smith met Oliver Cowdery exactly 366 days before organizing the church with him. They met on April 5, 1829 and organized the church on April 6, 1830.

  • Good society

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    by

    David
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    What happens to people who, because of some peculiarity of behavior, belief, or history like Joseph Smith, are rejected by those who should have been their friends and taken them under their wing? They tend to find the less refined members of society who are willing to accept their peculiarities.

  • What do I ACTUALLY know?

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    by

    David
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    The knowledge that a person cannot be shaken from, that which they know “independent of any other person” is what I would say they “actually know.” It will not be swayed by the tides of popular opinion or shaken if specific other trusted people begin to disbelieve it. This is the category of Joseph’s first…

  • Don’t forget the preparation

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    by

    David
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    Joseph Smith didn’t simply walk into a grove of trees and say a prayer. He had planned when and where to go so that he could be alone and he had studied and pondered enough to clarify the questions in his heart and assure himself that he couldn’t arrive at satisfactory answers with his own…

  • The intervening years

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    by

    David
    in

    I wonder what it was like for Joseph Smith during the time between visits to the Hill Cumorah. Did he ponder often in the things that Moroni had taught him in his prior visit so that he returned at the end of each year with greater understanding of what he was being engaged to do?…

  • Scriptures opened to us

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    by

    David
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    I don’t think I had noticed before the declaration by Joseph that after he and Oliver baptized each other they had the scriptures opened to their minds as never before. I knew that had each prophesied but didn’t realize how much light the spirit poured upon them.

  • A direct response

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    by

    David
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    I like how Joseph acknowledged the rumors and respond directly to the rather than dodging them. He had been called a money digger and he admitted that he was among the hired hands who dug as requested in search of a silver mine but he was also instrumental in convincing his boss to give up…

  • One more thing

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    by

    David
    in

    It sounds as if Joseph was given a lot of information in the three visits by Moroni at his bedside but as far as I can tell her was not given a specific instructions or timetable. The next morning when Moroni came again in the field he was given the instructions to relate the matter…

  • Reinforcing the message

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    by

    David
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    When a message is relayed overt and over again from the Lord we can choose to get frustrated by the repetition or we can recognize the importance of the message that the repetition conveys and appreciate the bushes and strength of the message that come with repetition.

  • Told and then shown

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    by

    David
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    I never noticed that Moroni told Joseph about the plates then added scriptural context before telling him more about the plates. Only after all that did he open the vision to Joseph about the location of the plates.