April 2014 talk: "The Witness" by Boyd K. Packer

    Unless there are other people with me, when I eat, I NEED to watch something (hulu, netflix, youtube, etc..).  I have been doing it since I can remember: Get food and turn on t.v.   Well since it is Sunday, I decided during my chip and guacamole fest that I would watch some conference talks from the April 2014 General Conference instead of the shows I watch on the other days.  

     One of the talks I listened to was Boyd K. Packer's (a latter day apostle) talk he gave entitled, "The Witness".  One thing that touched me from the talk is when he said, "Of all the other titles that He could have used, He chose to be called “Father.”

     Heavenly Father could have chosen King, Ruler, Almighty whatever... but He chose Father.  I love that.  i think of my relationship with Him and I view him as my Father and not some being who has control.  He counsels me, He is my constant, He is patient, He wants me to learn and grow, He listens to me, He has provided a Savior for me so that I may return again to Him, He knows what is best for me.... He truly is my Father and I love Him.  

Love,

    Becky joy

Book of Mormon: Alma 55

Book of Mormon: Alma 55

     The thing I loved about this chapter is it reminded me how the Lord doesn't make laws and commandments because He feels like it or because He wants us to feel constricted,  He asks us to live our lives a certain way to protect us and to allow us to receive the same fullness of joy that comes from living as He does.
     For example. the Lord has provided the word of wisdom as a law of health.  One of the things in this law of health is to stay away from strong drink, aka alcohol, from entering our bodies. He doesn't just ask us not to do that because He doesn't want us to have fun, as shown in this chapter, alcohol causes people to become drunk which also causes a person to lose total control of their minds, also taking away agency (the ability to choose for ourselves). In this chapter, it talks about the Lamanites and how they became drunk:

  13 And it came to pass that they did take of the wine freely; and it was pleasant to their taste, therefore they took of it more freely; and it was strong, having been prepared in its strength.

 14 And it came to pass they did drink and were merry, and by and by they were all drunken.

15 And now when Laman and his men saw that they were all drunken, and were in a deep sleep, they returned to Moroni and told him all the things that had happened.

     The Lamanites originally had plans to guard and protect through the night but lost control of themselves, which also caused them to lose control of their prisoners, and became a big downfall for them in the war.  

On the other hand, the Nephites went about temptation differently: 

30 And many times did they attempt to administer of their wine to the Nephites, that they might destroy them with poison or with drunkenness.

 31 But behold, the Nephites were not slow to remember the Lord their God in this their time of affliction. They could not be taken in their snares; 

These small and simple decisions were a huge turning point in the war:

28 And it came to pass that the Nephites began again to be victorious, and to reclaim their rights and their privileges.

     The last part about this chapter that amazed me was Moroni (once again).  Moroni, knowing the men were drunk had the opportunity to kill the Lamanites while they were sleeping, or wake them up and fight them while they were drunk.  In a way this seems like a good way to get things done, right??

     Well it just amazed me that Moroni didn't hurt a soul while they were sleeping and vulnerable.  Instead his only desire was to free the prisoners.  He even could have justified the situation as a defense technique or something but he had no desire to hurt anyone.  Which actually probably helped him in the end because then no one would have been trying to revenge him for doing that, instead the war continued except now Moroni was stronger with all his men, women, and children back.  

     How do these things apply today?  The word of wisdom still is a protection to us.  We may not be fighting a physical war (well some of us) but we are all fighting a spiritual war.  Satan would love it more than anything to take away our agency (that was his plan in the beginning after all) and if we do things that compromise our minds, we become so week and can end up doing this that will hurt ourselves and others.   

     Also, good people are just not violent in nature.  How wonderful it would be in a world full of Moroni's.  He is such a good example to me.  

Love,

    Becky joy

Book of Mormon: Alma 32:21

  Alma 32: 21 And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

I have come to realize that even though I don't know all the answers, I know the blessings.  I have seen miracles enter my life as I have shown faith.

Love,
     Becky joy

Alma 54: Moroni, a man of God vs. Ammoron, a man of the world.

     For this chapter, Alma 54 from the Book of Mormon,  I wanted to compare a little bit about the difference between Moroni, who was a man of God (or Nephites), with Ammoron, who was a man of the world (Lamanites).

So first of all let's look at Ammoron/Lamanites:
:3- "Now the Lamanites had taken many women and children" as prisoners".  Sounds pretty awful, right, to take harmless women and children as prisoners.
:16 "I am Ammoron, the king of the Lamanites"  His confidence comes strictly from a worldy title.
"I will avenge his blood upon you" (talking about his brother Amalikiah, who was killed by Teancum (a Nephite) who was trying to protect and defend his people).  Ammoron's desire to wage war and to kill was all about revenge and power.
:20-  "and we will wage a war which shall be eternal, either to the subjecting the Nephites to our authority or to their eternal extinction."   Not looking for peace, only looking to kill unless given power.
:21-  "And as concerning that God whom ye say we have rejected, behold, we know not such a being..."  This scripture makes me the most sad out of all of them.  He does not know his own Father who created him and who loves him deeply.  I feel as though this is the cause of the rest, of wanting power, of taking children and arresting them, of seeking bloodshed.  How sad.


Now let's look at Moroni/Nephites:
3:- "there was not a woman nor a child among all the prisoners of Moroni, or the prisoners whom Moroni had taken".   To me I almost feel silly showing this, does this not seem like an obvious thing??  But to compare, Moroni only imprisoned men who were a threat to the Nephite people.  He would never imprison innocent children and women.
     Something that I love about Moroni is the amount of times he mentions God in his letter to Ammoron.  I have found that I have a lot of respect for people who mention God in their everyday conversation.  They recognize the purpose of their lives and don't get caught up in worldly recognition.
    He mentions God 5 times in his short letter in verses: 6, 8, 9, 10 (twice).
:11- "I will close my epistle by telling you that I will not exchange prisoners, save it be on conditions that ye will deliver up a man and his wife and his children for one prisoner."  Moroni is very family focused.
:13-  "ye have sought to murder us, and we have only sought to defend ourselves."

     How does this apply to our day?  Well as I look around I can honestly say, how does this not apply to our day?  People who come to know their father in Heaven share many of the same traits (if not all) as Moroni:  focus is on the family unit, providing and protecting, Love of God and see His hand in their everyday lives,  are content and happy with the things they have and are not seeking for more.

    If you look at the world who encourages pretty much every commandment given by their Father in Heaven to be broken there is lots of: happiness only coming from worldy titles, always seeking more, violent people with lots of murder, children aren't important, woman's roles are becoming unrecognized and unvalued, Revenge and anger is strongly present.

This chapter makes me think of the scripture Mormon 1:8  found in the Book of Mormon:
 8 And my prayer to God is concerning my brethren, that they may once again come to the knowledge of God, yea, the redemption of Christ; that they may once again be a delightsome people.

     How wonderful would it be if we all remembered God in our daily lives just as Moroni.  How wonderful it would be to have our communities flourishing with "delightsome people" wherever you resided.  I know, just as Moroni struggled with people of the world, that I cannot make this happen for the world, but I can focus on a home where God is our focus and teach my children to know who they are.

Love,
     Becky joy

Welcome to my scriptures, Book of Mormon: Alma 53

     Today I thought it would be fun to introduce my scriptures to you.  I have had these scriptures since I was around the age of 10 (now I am 26) and I love them.  Sometimes I think of scriptures like a journal because I have written some of my thoughts in them and they are filled with color from marking the scriptures that I liked that day.  So here they are:

      Aren't they a beauty of a site!  Okay the cover is sort of not connected anymore to the rest of the book, but who cares right?  I still love them.  I think it will be a sad day when I have to part with them.

This is me.  I took this picture a couple  days ago.  I am currently 34 weeks pregnant by the way.  To get to know me better, I have another blog about my family, my faith, and my feelings:   westonandbexi.blogspot.com.

So today my studies brought me to Alma 53 found in the Book of Mormon. Apparently when I was younger, probably in high school when boys were pretty much the focus of my world, I wrote this in my scriptures while I was studying this chapter:

"I want to marry a stripling warrior"

     It's right next to the scriptures talking about these young men as honest and clean.  What girl, in all honestly, doesn't want to marry an honest/sober kind of man.  Now of course my focus is a little different now that I am married and have a daughter and a son on the way.  Now when I read these scriptures I notice the words in verse 21  "for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him."
      Now when I read those scriptures I realize that I have a responsibility to teach my children to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before Him.  That is something I love about the scriptures as well.  No matter how many times I have read the same passages of scripture or what stage of life I am in, I can still relate to them somehow.  I believe they were truly written and preserved for our day, so when I was a young teenager with crazy hormones, I still had the desire the marry an honest/sober man because of the example of these young men that I read at that age.  And now as I read these scriptures I have the desire for honest/sober children.  So what do I need to do?  Teach them to live the gospel.

Love,
     Becky joy

Book of Mormon: Alma 52

    As I was reading this chapter (Alma 52) it occurred to me that every time there is a war in the scriptures, the people who have God in their lives are only defending themselves and their people.  So here is Moroni, working to get the city Mulek back (in the previous chapter they lost the city most likely because of the division in his own land caused by the prideful kingmen who sought power and did not want to follow the laws), not because he is blood thirsty or wants power, but because many of his people who once lived in that land who had freedom now have become prisoners and are now under control by a King.
     Now perhaps the people of Moroni, did not start the war (and none of the people of God in the scriptures ever start the wars) because they were happy and content with their lives.   On the other hand, Amalikiah's people or I suppose I should now say,  Ammoron's people (and all the people who start wars in the scriptures) are people who do not have the gospel in their lives.  What is the result of this: they always want more, they never have enough, they are covetous, and blood thirsty kind of people.  Which reminds me of the scripture found in Alma 41:10-
" 10 Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness."

     How does this apply to our day?  Well we do have constant war going on in this world, but I like to look more on a personal level.  The war with Satan in this world.  One day I was walking through the mall and I couldn't help but notice that there were many woman who allowed their bodies to be used as advertisements.  I thought to myself how sad it was that they allowed others to expose their bodies like that for money and so people would lust after them.  
     I also wondered why would they do that?  After thinking about it, I realized, they do not have God in their lives.  In fact there are too many people these days that are not making an effort to come to know their Father in Heaven.  Because a relationship is absent with Him, they must feel very empty inside and are trying to find anything, even if only temporary, to fill that emptiness.  This is only one small example of course of the many things people do to feel happiness and love when God is absent in their lives.     
     As Moroni illustrates this through his example of the life he lived, he had enough. He was not covetous, he was not looking for more, he was not starting wars for power, etc... He had a relationship with God.  He was never looking for more. Even when Moroni was given the chance to take revenge on the people of Ammoron, make their lives miserable he said in verse 37: "If ye will bring forth your weapons of war and deliver them up, behold we will forbear shedding your blood."  He was willing to make peace and he easily forgave instead of held violent anger towards them.
      I know that as we spend time with God, His love will fill that emptiness that comes when He is absent in our lives.  We can be like the people of God in the scriptures, content and happy with our lives.

Love,
      Becky joy

Book of Mormon: Alma 51

     Today my scripture study brought me to a book and chapter found in the Book of Mormon (BofM): Alma 51.  I have to admit, the war chapters found in the BofM are usually a blur to me and I usually try to just skim through them.  Well today as I was studied instead of just skimmed through, I found this chapter was amazing.
       A big theme that seemed to stick out to me in this chapter was the destruction PRIDE can cause (surprise, surprise).
 :1-5     The chapter starts out talking about some of the people of Nephi wanting the way government is ran along with it's laws to be changed.  Their request for the laws to be altered is denied to by the chief judge Pahoran.  So this makes these people angry and they begin to call themselves "king men" because they desire power over the government.
   :6    Now the thing that stuck out to me is found in verse 6:  "And those who were desirous that Pahoran should remain chief judge over the land took upon them the name of freemen..."
       It is interesting to me that the men who were willing to follow the laws of the land called themselves "freemen" or free men.  As I thought about this, I realized that is how I feel as I follow the commandments in my faith: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At times when I am not so quick to keep the commandments I feel "damned", stuck, unhappy as I lose hope, help, and blessings.
  :8-  The "kingmen" on the other hand continued to feel prideful because they viewed themselves as greater than the law because of the "high birth" they came from.  In other words they had PRIDE which sets them up to be imprisoned or killed later on in the chapter because of the division they created among their people and their unwillingness to defend their land and liberty.

:9-"But behold, this was a critical time for such contentions to be among the people of Nephi (kingmen vs freemen); for behold, Amalickiah had again stirred up the hearts of the people of the Lamanites against the people of the Nephites, and he was gathering together soldiers from all parts of his land, and arming them, and preparing for war with all diligence; for he had sworn to drink the blood of Moroni."
:10- "But behold, we shall see that his promise which he made was rash: nevertheless, he did prepare himself and his armies to come to battle against the Nephites."

Amalikiah had pride and viewed himself as better than others and thought he deserved power over them.  His PRIDE was leading him to violent actions.  Now even though he had a strong desire to kill Moroni and even though a good number of Moroni's people were against him,  we can see from verse 10 that they don't have success bringing Moroni down.  Even though these men sought for power, man is nothing compared to God.  And God's plan was to preserve Moroni.

:34-  "And it came to pass that Teancum stole privily into the tent of the king, and put a javelin to his heart; and he did cause the death of the king immediately that he did not awake his servants."

     Amalikiah's pride that caused him to want to destroy others actually led to his own destruction.  Also a lot of the kingmen were also killed or put into prison because a war started in their own community because of their PRIDE.  Had they been willing to defend their land and liberty, God would have helped them and as a community they would have been stronger.
     So to sum up this chapter PRIDE destroys and people who follow the commandments and laws feel free. Laws protect and liberate us while pride destroys us.  

Love,
    Becky joy

     

A new day, a new blog, a new challenge

     I have decided to start a new blog.  I currently have a blog about my family, my faith, and my feelings: westonandbexi.blogspot.com, but I have been feeling like I should start a blog for quite a while now about my studies in the scriptures: Old Testament, New Testament, Doctrine of Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and lastly The Book of Mormon.  Most of my posts will be on the Book of Mormon.  I believe these records were written, kept, and preserved because the Lord knew we would need them for our day.  I will also blog from time to time about different talks and articles I read from leaders in my faith: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Many people also know this church as the Mormon Church.    
     One of the talents mentioned in my Patriarchal blessing is the talent of, "reading and explaining the written word".  I was thinking this would be a great way to share that talent to anyone who comes across this blog, but more importantly I am doing this blog to help myself.  I think that as I ponder about the scriptures I just read by recording it on here, it will help my scripture study improve and I need the blessings that come from feasting upon the word!!

Love,
    Becky joy