Jarom - Words of Mormon

Quote "We have become a nation of pleasure seeking sabbath breakers...What fits the purpose of the Sabbath? Activities that contribute to greater spirituality...I don't believe that it is possible to keep our spirituality on a high plane by spending our Sabbaths on the beach, on the golf course...or in our own homes...looking at television."

~President Ezra Taft Benson

Question "How can you more fully keep the Sabbath day holy?"

Jeff and I were watching the Emma Smith story last Sunday, and when she was helping write the translations of the Book of Mormon, Jeff said to me "I wonder what was on the 144 lost pages." I never really pondered that before. In today's reading, in Omni, he speaks of other people leaving Jerusalem at the time that King Judah was taken away captive into Babylon, and settling Zarahemla. It also speaks of others crossing the seas to the promised land, and it made me wonder about their records. A few weeks ago, the question was something about keeping records, and it never ceases to amaze me that there are lots and lots of other records that we don't even have that testify even more of Christ.

One of the other things I loved about this reading assignment is the Words of Mormon in between the Books of Omni and Mosiah. I love how here's Nephi, passing down the plates to his brother Jacob, and he passes them on to his son and so forth, and all of them basically say that the words that Nephi and Jacob have said are as plain as can be, and there is nothing more they can add because they speak the truth. They all testify of the coming of Christ. They all testify of the wars between the Lamanites and the Nephites, and that when the Nephites are righteous they are helped and protected, and when they are not righteous they are overcome by the Lamanites. So, here are these guys all saying this, and then all of a sudden, a voice from hundreds of years later says, hey, I've been reading these records, and I've taken the most precious parts and abridged them. Oh, by the way, the testifying of Christ coming, yeah, that already happened, and there are other things that these prophets of old said would happen in my day that have already happened....and they also have testified of things in the future that haven't happened yet, but they will happen...and why doubt when they've been right so far!

I love Mormon putting in that little part, so that we can see that these are not just words and prophecies that don't apply to us, or that have nothing to do with us, or that we cannot relate to....quite the contrary! They left this record for us to read, and it speaks the truth which is eternal, and truth doesn't change, and it doesn't care what century it is in.....it is still the truth. Keep the commandments of God, there is safety and protection in that, and if you don't, your enemies will have power over you. Seems pretty simple, right?

Sorry that I didn't address today's question, I've gone on long enough, I'll tackle that one another day.