Tuesday, December 21, 2010

I am all astonishment....


Is it just me, or is the word "astonish" and forms of that word used a lot in the Book of Mormon?

astonish |əˈstäni sh |
verb [ trans. ]
surprise or impress (someone) greatly : you never fail to astonish me | [ trans. ] it astonished her that Mrs. Browing could seem so anxious | [as adj. ] ( astonishing) an astonishing achievement.
DERIVATIVES
astonishingly adverb : [as submodifier ] an astonishingly successful program.
ORIGIN early 16th cent. (as astonished, in the sense [stunned, bewildered, dismayed] ): from obsolete astone [stun, stupefy,] from Old French estoner, based on Latin ex- ‘out’ + tonare ‘to thunder.’


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3 Nephi 20:44

As many were astonished at thee—his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—
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Alma 31:19

Now it came to pass that after Alma and his brethren and his sons had heard these prayers, they were astonished beyond all measure.
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Alma 12:19

Now it came to pass that when Alma had made an end of speaking these words, the people began to be more astonished;
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Alma 49:5

Now at this time the chief captains of the Lamanites were astonished exceedingly, because of the wisdom of the Nephites in preparing their places of security.
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Alma 49:9

And it came to pass that the Lamanites, or the Amalickiahites, were exceedingly astonished at their manner of preparation for war.
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Alma 11:46

Now, when Amulek had finished these words the people began again to be astonished, and also Zeezrom began to tremble. And thus ended the words of Amulek, or this is all that I have written.
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Alma 2:23

And it came to pass that on the morrow they returned into the camp of the Nephites in great haste, being greatly astonished, and struck with much fear, saying:
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Helaman 3:25

And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure.
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Helaman 9:4

And now behold, when they saw this they were astonished exceedingly, insomuch that they fell to the earth; for they had not believed the words which Nephi had spoken concerning the chief judge.
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Helaman 9:30

And he shall stand with fear, and wist not what to say. And behold, he shall deny unto you; and he shall make as if he were astonished; nevertheless, he shall declare unto you that he is innocent.

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Alma 17:37

But behold, every man that lifted his club to smite Ammon, he smote off their arms with his sword; for he did withstand their blows by smiting their arms with the edge of his sword, insomuch that they began to be astonished, and began to flee before him; yea, and they were not few in number; and he caused them to flee by the strength of his arm.
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Alma 58:29

And it came to pass that when the armies of the Lamanites did arrive near the city, and saw that we were prepared to meet them, they were astonished exceedingly and struck with great fear, insomuch that they did flee into the wilderness.
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3 Nephi 1:15

And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.
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3 Nephi 1:17

And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.
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Alma 10:12

And now, when Amulek had spoken these words the people began to be astonished, seeing there was more than one witness who testified of the things whereof they were accused, and also of the things which were to come, according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.
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Jacob 7:21

And when the multitude had witnessed that he spake these things as he was about to give up the ghost, they were astonished exceedingly; insomuch that the power of God came down upon them, and they were overcome that they fell to the earth.
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Alma 14:6

And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell.
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Alma 20:27

And I will also grant unto thee that thy brethren may be cast out of prison, and thou and thy brethren may come unto me, in my kingdom; for I shall greatly desire to see thee. For the king was greatly astonished at the words which he had spoken, and also at the words which had been spoken by his son Lamoni, therefore he was desirous to learn them.
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Alma 18:10

Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.
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3 Nephi 2:1

And it came to pass that thus passed away the ninety and fifth year also, and the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen—

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Helaman 9:14

We ran and came to the place of the judgment-seat, and when we saw all things even as Nephi had testified, we were astonished insomuch that we fell to the earth; and when we were recovered from our astonishment, behold they cast us into prison.
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Alma 17:36

But Ammon stood forth and began to cast stones at them with his sling; yea, with mighty power he did sling stones amongst them; and thus he slew a certain number of them insomuch that they began to be astonished at his power; nevertheless they were angry because of the slain of their brethren, and they were determined that he should fall; therefore, seeing that they could not hit him with their stones, they came forth with clubs to slay him.
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3 Nephi 3:11

And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites, and also of threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers.
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Alma 20:26

And when he saw that Ammon had no desire to destroy him, and when he also saw the great love he had for his son Lamoni, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Because this is all that thou hast desired, that I would release thy brethren, and suffer that my son Lamoni should retain his kingdom, behold, I will grant unto you that my son may retain his kingdom from this time and forever; and I will govern him no more—
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Alma 18:2

And when they had all testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his great power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders?
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Alma 57:26

And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Light, Darkness

This is how darkness feels:

Helaman 5:34 And it came to pass that the Lamanites could not flee because of the cloud of darkness which did overshadow them; yea, and also they were immovable because of the fear which did come upon them.

This is how light feels:

44 And Nephi and Lehi were in the midst of them; yea, they were encircled about; yea, they were as if in the midst of a flaming fire, yet it did harm them not, neither did it take hold upon the walls of the prison; and they were filled with that cjoy which is unspeakable and full of glory. U

His Heart Did Take Courage

I love this phrase. It is so descriptive. It has been coming up in my reading of the Book of Mormon. I searched it to see how many times it says this in the Book of Mormon. Here are all the times it is used, except I left out one where Coriantumr's heart took courage, because he was a bad guy.


Alma 15:4

Now, when he heard that Alma and Amulek were in the land of Sidom, his heart began to take courage; and he sent a message immediately unto them, desiring them to come unto him.



Alma 17:12

And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God.



Alma 62:1

And now it came to pass that when Moroni had received this epistle his heart did take courage, and was filled with exceedingly great joy because of the faithfulness of Pahoran, that he was not also a traitor to the freedom and cause of his country.



Helaman 5:24

And when they saw that they were encircled about with a pillar of fire, and that it burned them not, their hearts did take courage.


I just read this one in Helaman 5. That was the last one listed. How sad, I won't be reading about anyone's hearts taking courage the whole rest of the Book of Mormon. Apparently, it is not said anywhere else in the scriptures.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation....

In Helaman's day, the church members had a problem with denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation. That made me think of the scripture that says:

Moroni 7:35

And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?

I was just wondering about how, in our day, we would deny the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Do we lack sufficient faith? Do we use the help and resources that Heavenly Father provides for His children? Is not reading the scriptures a form of denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation? Is not praying denying the same power?

Just something to think about. It reminds me of the quote that says "People who don't read have no advantage over people who can't."

REMEMBER

If I were going to give a one-word summary of the Book of Mormon, that word would be "remember". If I could state the greatest lesson from the Book of Mormon in one word, it would be "remember".

The Book of Mormon is a record of people that were either remembering God and the great sacrifice of Jesus and the great things They had done in helping them and preserving them in their lives or they forgot or didn't remember the importance or the necessity of these things.

That is the Book of Mormon in a nutshell: REMEMBER.

A few years back, the Young Men and Young Women in our ward did a Book of Mormon reading marathon. This is a great activity that I would highly recommend. We read the Book of Mormon in a weekend. We started on Friday after school and read until midnight. Then we got up early the next morning and read all that day and finished in the evening. It is a bit strenuous but when you are done, you really feel like you accomplished something.

It is a very interesting experience to read the Book of Mormon so quickly. You can see the themes and the stories easier. The word remember is the word that emerged from that experience. It greatly strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and I know it had a great impact on the youth that had that experience, too.

Helaman 4

I am reading in the first part of Helaman now. It is amazing how fast the people of Nephi go from righteousness to wickedness and back again.

11Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.

12And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites—

13And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.


The part that got my attention as I read were some of the things the Nephites were doing that was wicked and were calling down the wrath of God on them. Many of the things are not surprising. They are what you would expect from people making wicked choices, but there were two listed that I thought were interesting: making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation. Hmmm.... Denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation- why would you want to do that? These things tell me that the people weren't praying or reading their scriptures. These are things that help us to remember God in our lives. The sad part is that because they denied the spirit of prophecy and revelation, they were not given help and they were left to their own strength. When that happens, things don't go so well.

It is also interesting to think about our actions toward God. Do we give Him the reverence He deserves? Are there things that we do in our lives that could look like mocking things that are sacred?

Here are more scriptures in the same chapter:
23And because of their iniquity the church had begun to dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face.

24And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—

Changing the subject a little, it is important to remember that at this time, though many in the church are acting very wickedly, there is a small core that are staying close to the Lord and trying very hard to keep the commandments and get the others to repent. That would be a hard job. It is hard to be good when nobody around you is being good and persecuting you for being good.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Quiet Time

Since I am such a proponent of quiet reflective time, I thought I will use this post as a place to collect quotes about quiet time to read scriptures, pray, write in journal, and reflect/ponder/think.

We improve our relationship with our Heavenly Father by learning of Him, by communing with Him, by repenting of our sins, and by actively following Jesus Christ, for “no man cometh unto the Father, but by [Christ].”10 To strengthen our relationship with God, we need some meaningful time alone with Him. Quietly focusing on daily personal prayer and scripture study, always aiming to be worthy of a current temple recommend—these will be some wise investments of our time and efforts to draw closer to our Heavenly Father. Let us heed the invitation in Psalms: “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Of Things That Matter Most, November 2010 Ensign

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

Elder Neil L. Andersen, "Never Leave Him", November 2010 Ensign, quoted the prophet from the May 2009 Ensign:
President Monson has promised, “Your testimony, when constantly nourished, will keep you safe.

Elder Andersen the adds to that promise by saying:
We push our spiritual roots deep, feasting daily on the words of Christ in the scriptures. We trust in the words of living prophets, placed before us to show us the way. We pray and pray and listen to the quiet voice of the Holy Ghost that leads us along and speaks peace to our soul. Whatever challenges arise, we never, never leave Him.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Reading glasses, an analogy.....



I was just trying to read the small print on some baking instructions for something I want to make for dinner today. It is hard to read but I just didn't feel like taking the time to track down some reading glasses. I finally decided to just go grab some. I was able to read the directions clearly and I was on to the next task. I have had this same experience and tried to read the instructions when I was making a cake and put in way too much water. It didn't turn out too well. If I would have just taken a minute to go grab my glasses, it would have prevented the mistake I made. It made me stop and think a bit....

Using those reading glasses is like taking the time to ask for the Spirit and then waiting for feelings of inspiration. It really isn't that hard to have the Spirit but sometimes we are just lazy and don't feel like going through the process. Whether we utilize the help of the Spirit is up to us and and we have to do the task whether we get help or not. So why don't we just go ahead and use the help available to us?

Be strong and of a good courage....

I am really going to miss the YM/YW scripture theme for this year:

Joshua 1:9
Be strong and of a good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest.


I am excited for the theme for the new year, which is the 13th article of faith, but this scripture in Joshua has been great. It is an important scripture and it has given me much encouragement throughout the year.

Be Still My Soul

One of my favorite things in the whole world is hymns! I love to hear great hymns and read the words to great hymns. They speak to my spirit.

I have been thinking about the words to this particular hymn. Though there are lots of verses, I am only including the first two. They are good to remember that our Heavenly Father guides and directs our lives and will always be there for us.


Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Thought from Elder Holland

Here's a thought from Elder Holland's October Gen. Conference talk:
In whatever country you live, however young or inadequate you feel, or however aged or limited you see yourself as being, I testify you are individually loved of God, you are central to the meaning of His work, and you are cherished and prayed for by the presiding officers of His Church. The personal value, the sacred splendor of every one of you, is the very reason there is a plan for salvation and exaltation. Contrary to the parlance of the day, this is about you. No, don’t turn and look at your neighbor. I am talking to you!





Thanks Elder Holland!

Have a good day! :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Scriptures online changes- very cool!

As I have mentioned before, I read the scriptures online quite a bit. When I opened them this morning, I see that they have changed a bit. I knew they were re-doing LDS.org but I didn't know that included the scriptures site, too.

If you have read the conference talks online, you see that they have quite a few study aids to help you. If you log in, you can even put in your own notes as you read the talks. Now I see that they have done the same thing with the scriptures! How great! Before, I was adding my notes to a separate word document. Now they will be all together. You can mark your scriptures and take notes just like you would your regular hard copy of your scriptures.

Do we live in a great age of technology or what??!!
To take notes, etc. you need to create an account. You need your membership number, which is listed on your temple recommend or the membership record you usually get at tithing settlement. I think it will also want your confirmation date, which is on the same membership record. If they didn't hand it out at tithing settlement, you can still ask your ward clerk for a copy.

The church's website gets better and better! What a fantastic resource!
Here is the link to the scriptures: http://lds.org/scriptures?lang=eng

And if you want more, here is a link to the gen. conf. talks: http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2010/10?lang=eng