Note: I'm posting today for tomorrow as I will be traveling very early in the morning and did not want to take a chance that I could not post! :)
Read: Ether 8-10
Mark: Ether 8:26
"The Book of Mormon is Christ-centered. That is its essential feature, and that is the reason we are commanded to study it continually. We must use the Book of Mormon." --Elder Dallin H. Oaks
To ponder:
How is your study of the Book of Mormon bringing you closer to the Savior?
You are Invited!!!
Please join us at my home next Sunday, August 17, at 7:00 p.m. so that we may finish this challenge together! Bring your scriptures and we will read Moroni 10 together! If you like, bring a light snack to share. Please feel free to share this invitation with others who you know are reading with us!
Chapter 8&9: Sometimes we blame a person's upbringing for that person's behavior but we see too many instances of people doing wickedly when their parents and other examples around them were all good! People are responsible for their own actions. We are ALL born with the light of Christ (a conscience) and we each choose to listen to or ignore that influence. True - we have a choice to do greater good if we are taught well and that information can lead us to make better decisions than we would make without it, but ignorance is not an acceptable excuse to be subpar. We must do the best we can with what we have. We also must learn to not blame external influences - in Jared's case, Omer was certainly not a bad influence and he still went astray!
ReplyDeleteIf people want to do selfish and wicked things they find a way & the devil will help them.
If people want to do good they find a way & God will help them!
Chapter 10: If they had learned to enjoy what they had - all their prosperity & peace - and learned to talk through their conflicts, the Jaredites would have remained one of the greatest people to ever populate the earth. Stay humble. Stay grateful. Learn to resolve conflict peaceably! If wickedness is in your midst, cut it down swiftly and completely.
I think a great lesson is taught in Ether 8, reminding us to put our trust in the Lord and not in the things of the world. I love in verse 24 where it says we must awake to a sense of our awful situation! Isn't that so true for what we see around us? We must be aware to the situations right before us!
ReplyDeleteThese scriptures are so sad when we see children turning against their fathers and fathers turning against their sons all due to pride and riches. I kept wondering as I read about this: Where were their mothers?
It was hard to keep up with which one of the sons were righteous kings and which were not! But as the Brother of Jared predicted, the fact that the people wanted kings again, once again led to their downfall.
Wow... what a rough sequence of chapters, here! The daughter of Jared... oh my. I can't imagine why any woman would want to put herself out there like that and dance to convince someone to behead her grandfather so dear old daddy could be on the throne. I don't know. It's all really sketchy. The whole "kingdoms" thing is sketchy that way. It's stupid for someone to inherit the throne regardless of their personal worthiness and really promotes all this murderous crap. Such evil never ceases to amaze me.
ReplyDeleteWhat also amazes me is the flux of it all. Sometimes great wickedness comes from the posterity of the very righteous, and other times great righteousness comes from the posterity of the evil.
So I'm wondering, in chapter 9, where'd these poisonous serpents come from? Like... they just randomly appear.
Chapter 10, verse 11--an interesting verse. "And he did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself because of his many whoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord." It makes me think, how many times do I do justice for others but not myself? Not necessarily because of "whoredoms," LOL, but because I don't give myself enough time to really do what needs done for my own well-being.
And in verse 20--I wonder where this is. Panama, maybe?