David Journal

Tag: Testimony of Joseph Smith

  • An exciting annual pilgrimage

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    David
    in

    I can imagine the excitement Joseph must have felt each year as September 22nd approached. Perhaps the first time he returned he didn’t know what to expect but each time after that I would have been wondering and contemplating about what new things I might possibly be taught in meeting with Moroni again.

  • Annual instruction

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    David
    in

    What was it like for Joseph to wait a year between each interview with Moroni? How often did he leave an interview with instructions of something he needed to do before the next year? Obviously in the final year he was supposed to acquire a secure box to hold the plates before he finally retrieved…

  • Much to think about

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    David
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    I can only imagine how much Joseph found himself pondering every year in what he had learned from Moroni and what it would be like to finally have the plates.

  • Prepared for the work

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    David
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    The testimony of Joseph Smith illustrates the need to be prepared before we are entrusted with a sacred work. Joseph was told from the first visits from Moroni that he must have no object besides doing the Lord’s work if he were to obtain the gold plates. When he first saw them he was unable…

  • The intervening years

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    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?…

  • Introductory texts

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    David
    in

    The introductory texts such as the testimonies focus on the Book of Mormon and it’s origins, not the central message if it so unsurprisingly there are no references to the Atonement.

  • One Testimony is not enough

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    David
    in

    As I read the testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith regarding the Book of Mormon I realized how weak any single testimony is too weak to depend on. While the totality of testimonies from Joseph, the various witnesses, and the testimony of the lives of so many people including Joseph and the other original testators…

  • The Prophet

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    David
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    Joseph’s account of the coming forth of the book of Mormon is at once compelling and bland. He is straightforward and without embellishment in relating his experience.

  • 1 January 2014

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    David
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    I’ve been reading Zealot by Reza Aslan this last week and seeing how he uses limited historical facts and a multitude of unacknowledged (and often contradictory) assumptions to reduce Jesus to a historical fluke byproduct of His time with no personal merit worth mentioning. Returning to pure scripture I see by contrast how hollow and…