Gospel Cogitations

Across the U.S., some states are cautiously trying to reopen parts of their economies.  At this time, many missionaries who were brought home from foreign countries are receiving their reassignments.  A couple of weeks ago I wrote some of my thoughts about all of this , and gave a few good sources to read through.  This week, I have some thoughts from a couple of my relatives, both of whom are currently serving missions. Sister Curle The first started serving in Michigan late last year.  I asked her to write some of her thoughts about the current situation.  Here are her words: "My name is sister Curle, and I'm currently serving in the Michigan, Detroit mission! This is a little about my experience as a missionary during the Covid-19 pandemic. At first, before we really knew what was going on, we were only restricted a little bit. We couldn't tract, and we couldn't visit anyone over the age of 65. That came as a total surprise to me, and I thought it wou...

Today I have a short analysis of some of the words of Isaiah, as quoted by Abinadi in the Book of Mormon. Photo credit: www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media This coming week in the lesson manual for Come, Follow Me , the assigned reading is Mosiah 11-17  in the Book of Mormon.  Some of these chapters contain the words of the prophet Abinadi, as he spoke to King Noah and his priests.  One of the most notable chapters is when Abinadi recites Isaiah 53 to teach about the coming of the Messiah.  I believe the chapter is important because the words of Abinadi are arranged similar to a chiasmus : it starts with him teaching that salvation does not come by the law of Moses alone, moves into speaking about the Messiah, then ends with warning about the consequences of not keeping the law of God, including the law of Moses.  Chapters 14 and 15 are the center, as they teach about the nature of the Savior. Some of you may remember a few weeks back when I wrote ...

Picture credit: www.churchofjesuschrist.org There's no denying that we live in a unique time.  With thousands of missionaries returning to their home countries , and awaiting reassignment I thought it would be a good time to address the subject.  First a story, and then some doctrine. Unmet expectations are the cause of much anxiety in many people, and I don't think anyone was expecting the recent changes.  I myself have never gone through an experience like this.  However, I noticed on the church's website a nice article written by a woman who was evacuated from her mission when the country she was in had a civil war.  I encourage you to read this, as it speaks to current fears much better than I could. To the Unexpectedly Reassigned Missionary I also think it's worth reviewing what Elder Bednar said about missionary service in the April 2017 General Conference. Called to the Work Some excerpts:  - "Please note that the first sentenc...

I thoroughly enjoyed General Conference two weeks ago .  I would like to share some thoughts with you about what I learned.  (You can skip to the bottom for a bullet-point list if you don't like reading my long ramblings) Continuing Revelation However, I would like to begin with a discussion of why continuing revelation is so important.  Every 6 months the leaders of the church speak to us.  Why is this done? In the Teachings of the Presidents - Joseph Smith , we have words from the prophet Joseph about the importance of receiving personal revelation.  I think his argument can also be expanded to include the importance of having a living prophet.  I will quote just a part of his discourse: "[W]hy should it be thought a thing incredible that [God] should be pleased to speak again in these last days for [the Saints] salvation? ... "[Y]ou will admit that the word spoken to Noah was not sufficient for Abraham, or it was not required of Abraham to lea...

As we prepare for Easter Sunday next week, I would like to expand on the work I did last year, by providing another part of the Easter story, compiled from the four Gospels in the New Testament.  This time, it is about Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane.  I encourage you all to read this in preparation for Easter Sunday, as well as my post from last year , which puts together the story of Jesus rising from the tomb. May the power and love of Christ be and abide in your hearts during these troubled times. Picture credit: Harry Anderson Then cometh Jesus with his disciples to a place which was named Gethsemane, which was a garden; and the disciples began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy, and to complain in their hearts, wondering if this be the Messiah. Matt. 26:36; John 18:1; Mark 14:33 And Jesus knowing their hearts, said to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray. Pray that ye enter not into temptation. Matt. 26:36, Mark...

Moroni Appears to Joseph Smith In His Room Picture Credit: Tom Lovell The other day as I sat waiting in the temple, I had the idea come into my mind to read the words that the angel Moroni said to Joseph Smith the first time he visited him.  I had read this passage before, but had not gone to the effort to visit all of the verses that Moroni referenced.  As I read through the verses, it was very inspiring to see what prophecies are being fulfilled in these last days.  I hope my thoughts can lead others to also feel the spirit of the Restoration. This will contain a lot of text quoted from the scriptures (bold-face), so sit down, get comfortable, and maybe pull out your own scriptures/study journal and take notes of thoughts and impressions that come into your heart.  If you are adverse to lots of reading all at once, this post is broken up into sections, so you can study it over time. Context The visit of Moroni to Joseph is recorded in Joseph Smith History ...

Isaiah - Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier Photo credit: The Wallace Collection The other day, I was studying the Book of Mormon, and I read this in the footnotes for 2 Nephi 12: "Comparison with the King James Bible in English shows that there are differences in more than half of the 433 verses of Isaiah quoted in the Book of Mormon, while about 200 verses have the same wording as KJV." And being the engineer that I am, I thought - "I bet I can figure out exactly  what the differences are between the King James version and what Nephi wrote down from the Brass Plates." For those of my audience who don't have experience reading diff files, the text highlighted in blue are the characters/words that are different between the two columns, and the text in black is the same.  Because of the nature of the algorithm, sometimes there will be a few characters in black while the rest is blue.  Usually, unless the whole word is black, there isn't a noticeable simi...