1 Nephi Chapter 9 - The Separation of Church and State? Not Quite...

As I read this relatively short chapter, a couple of things really stood out to me. First is the fact that Nephi notes the distinction between his two sets of plates. The Lord commanded him to make a set of plates for the ministry and one set of plates for the history of his people. I, like Nephi, am left wondering why this might be. I can't really come up with a great reason why, so for this week I am offering a challenge. I would like to hear the thoughts of anyone who reads this. Why do you think the Lord commanded him to separate the ministry for the reign of the kings and the wars and contentions? Please reply in the comment section.

The other thing that stood out is Nephi's powerful faith in the face of little knowledge. He had no idea why he was commanded to do the work he was to do, but he shows no wavering in his willingness to follow the Lord's commands. What a guy!

On one last note I just wanted to mention that when I read one part in particular it seems that Nephi is rambling a little bit, but maybe I'm just struggling to read it clearly. Sometimes I think it's fun to notice the human quirks of the prophets. It reminds me that they are human as well. But like I said...maybe I'm just struggling to get it. What do you think?

"And now, as I have spoken concerning these plates, behold they are not the plates upon which I make a full account of the history of my people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name of Nephi; wherefore, they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates also are called the plates of Nephi."

1 Nephi Chapter 8- Lehi's Vision

Okay, so it's been a while. The funny thing, I read the chapter weeks ago, but was intimidated by the task of applying it to me. Comparing the Vision of the Tree of Life to my life, that's big! I pondered it for days, forgot about it for days, remembered it for days, and now here I am writing.
I want to make sure I point out the brief, but solid push for food storage in this chapter. The first verse begins with Nephi saying, "And it came to pass that we had gathered together all manner of seeds of every kind, both of grain of every kind, and also the seeds of the fruit of every kind."
After that, the entire focus is shifted. We are immediately introduced to Lehi's monumental vision.
Rather than trying to analyze the dream and how each symbol represents something grand in my life, I feel compelled to share an experience that likens Lehi's experience to me.
When I was in 9th grade and attending a non-denominational Christian church in Montana, while attending a youth retreat, I had what believers there called "a vision". In my mind it was simply my worries and fears manifesting through my overactive imagination, but you say tomatoes and I say tomatoes with a different inflection and pronunciation.
Anyhow, I remember, after being "saved", praying and thinking about my family. I remember thinking about each person in my family, and watching them cry out for help as they got sucked down into the depths of a dark tornado. You can imagine the sadness that overcame me. I started crying and I only wanted to call them and tell them what I had seen. Fortunately this was before cell phones were common. I probably would have freaked them out simply because I was so emotional.
When I got home after the weekend retreat I did calmly call them and tell them what I had seen in my mind and they, for the most part, listened to me. I remember one of my brother's friends getting on the phone and asking if I saw him too. To this day I don't remember if I had or not, and to this day I don't know if he wanted to know or if he was teasing me.
In any case, I have often thought back on that experience. Especially as I read of Lehi's concern for Laman and Lemuel after the vision he had, I remember the feelings that I experienced.
Whether it was a vision or simply my overactive imagination, it made an impression on me about the urgency of helping to bring my family unto Christ, and while that is a rocky path even still, I do know of the importance of trying to keep my family out of the darkest tornadoes. Unfortunately, just as with Laman and Lemuel, it is their choices that keep them on their paths and I, nor anyone else can pull them from their agent choices. Instead I pray and fast and keep faith that the Lord's time table will eventually meet up with mine.

1 Nephi Chapter 7 - We've Gotta Do What?

"What? We have to go back?"
This chapter is quite an interesting one. It's one of those chapters where I just wish I had a little more information. For example, when the boys get the charge to go back again to Jerusalem, I expect Laman and Lemuel to throw hissy fits, but there's no sign of it. Now did it happen? I don't know, but since it's not there, I'm going to go on the assumption that their whining was not excessive. Yet, only a few verses later they're tying Nephi up and hoping that he gets eaten by wild animals.  What in the world is going on? Are Laman and Lemuel completely bipolar?
On another note, how cool is it that they were able to recruit a family larger than their own to join them in there "visionary-led" journey to the promised land. Think for a minute about the conversation that must have transpired between Lehi's sons and Ishmael's family. Can you think of any man-made words that would convince you to go? The Spirit had to have been manifesting powerfully during that conversation, but once again we see that powerful manifestations only carry so much weight. Almost half of the family helped tie Nephi up! What? And because he verbally chastened them?
I know a little about the struggle Nephi was dealing with. I love all three of my brothers very much and they mean the world to me, but when I think about trying to get them to turn unto the Lord and to trust in His mighty arm, I can never find the words. I also know that it is quite a bit more difficult to address older siblings than younger. Anyone who is a middle child knows that. You just don't tell your older siblings what to do. It's not a comfortable place to be. I don't believe Nephi was puffed up in his station. He said it best with
"how is it that ye are so hard in your hearts, and so blind in your minds, that ye have need that I, your younger brother, should speak unto you, yea, and set an cexample for you?"
As younger siblings we want nothing more than to have our older siblings as examples. Life and life's challenges are easier when you siblings pioneer challenges for you. Unfortunately, I've been left on my own during many of my challenges without a strong example of what to do. I don't want, in any way, to knock my brothers. They make their own choices and they certainly don't have to live by my standards or for me, but I simply want to point out that I can really sympathize with Nephi on this matter. I would love for my brothers to show me how to be a worthy priesthood holder rather than trying to set the example.
The last thing I want to reflect on is the experience of Nephi's bands being loosed. I never really before thought about the process.
He prayed that he would have the strength to burst the bands with which he was bound, but did the Lord answer him in the way that he asked? Not even close. The bands were simply loosed from his hands and feet. There was no bursting. How often do we want the Lord to deliver us from our woes with some great and mighty show of force and He answers so quietly? The Lord's miracles are often subtle and so perfectly executed that we often fail to see the miraculous nature. I think back on my life and can see so many times when the Lord blessed me with great blessings through simple means. That IS the still, small voice.
And how about Nephi's "frank" and unconditional forgiveness? What a brother!

1 Nephi Chapter 6

I can't help but to notice the call to action with genealogy. While Nephi didn't waste space with his genealogy, he made sure to let us know the importance. He talked about knowing that he was a descendent of Joseph and that Lehi had kept the genealogy on his plates. Lehi risked his sons, and Nephi risked his life to preserve, not only the scriptures, but their genealogy as well, as if genealogy and scriptures are somehow related :) I certainly have some work to do. I love genealogy work, and when I get started I get obsessed for a short period of time. Eventually I have to cool down because it absorbs me. For me it's like being a detective with a time machine. I have come to know my ancestors through the traces they left behind. I only wish they left more so I could know them more.
Through the guidance of the Spirit, I have solved some great family mysteries. After much prayer and searching I have discovered that my great grandfather had married 2 Minnie Wilkersons in his lifetime (my great grandma was the second). I discovered this through census records that have been made available to the entire world through the internet. Imagine my confusion when I found him married to Minnie Wilkerson before my great grandma was even alive!!! What a mess!
I have had so much fun finding my ancestors in history, and look forward to their future as I take the opportunity to perform temple ordinances in the House of the Lord! What an amazing blessing that is. I will get to know them again and for that I am grateful and hopeful.

Also, may I point out that, in this chapter, Nephi tells us the reason that he did everything he did. He says it so simply, "For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved."

I believe that our personal intentions in this life should line up with those of Nephi. That brave, faithful, and enduring prophet of old-who saw the destruction of his people and still had faith in the Lord. Let us all persuade men to come unto God and be saved.

1 Nephi Chapter 5

I can only imagine the joy that Sariah felt when her boys made it back to camp. Watching the way that my lovely wife worries herself sick over every thing our daughters do...this must have been quite a reunion. Plus, we see that even Sariah got to the point where she murmured and complained against Lehi, saying the very same things that her negative sons said, that "he was a visionary man". I love that his reply was basically a big fat, "duh!"
I go on the assumption that Sariah was faithful when Lehi told her to pack her things (the very few she could take). This is the first time that we her of her doubting her husband. Now I know a thing or two about a thing or two, and when my wife loses faith in me, things are pretty darn bad. Now, of course, she doesn't always agree with me or my motives for doing things, but her faith is always in me. She is my confidence booster!
If I put myself in Lehi's strappy sandals for a minute, I know that it stung more than a little to have her attacking him, and since you cannot give faith or testimony to another, he could do very little to calm her down.
But, in the end the boys returned with the plates and a fat slice of humble pie for Sariah. Her testimony was strengthened and she knew, more than ever before, that her husband called by Heavenly Father to lead them to the Land of Promise.
I've had humble pie and it is unique in that it is the only thing in which the after taste is better than the flavor while you are eating it.
I think of a time when I was angry with my Father-in-Law John. I don't remember why, but we were having a little tiff.
I was trying to put a tire on my way-2-small moped and I spent a good hour just trying to get the stupid thing back on the rim. I squeezed, pryed, jammed, and stomped hoping to get the tire back on the rim but it just wouldn't go. Finally, I prayed to the Lord to ask for help in figuring out how to finish the job.
Almost instantly I had a thought. "Go ask John for help". I hated the answer, but I couldn't deny that it was the answer to my prayer. I took my sweet time going to ask him for his help. He came out, and between the two of us, we had it on in under five minutes. I thanked him, and I don't remember having anymore resentful feelings between the two of us. Like I said, the after taste was much sweeter.

1 Nephi Chapter 4

Okay, so as I read Chapter 4, many things stood out to me. Some are things I've thought before, and others are new thoughts. First, I'd never noticed before that Nephi, before the issue is ever presented with the chance, mentions that:
"The Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers, and to destroy Laban, even as the Egyptians."
Had the idea crossed his mind before the Spirit told him what to do? Perhaps.
I'm also thinking again about Laman and Lemuel. The whine and complain, but they do it anyway. I've been there.
I think about a time when I was newly baptized. It was the first time that I ever really felt the Spirit speaking to me in a chain of unstoppable thoughts. I was riding on my much-too-small moped, and seriously, I looked like gorilla on a tricycle. I got honked at, laughed at, and even mooned and flashed once. I attracted a lot of attention. One day I was riding and I started getting a stream of thoughts about how I should be wearing a helmet. I thought about wearing a helmet many times and I continually talked myself out of it. I wore a helmet when I rode a bike as a kid, and a helmet was sure to make me look even more ridiculous. However, that morning when I recieved that council from the Spirit, I could not deny it. I had two choices. I could get a helmet or stop riding. Well, I chose the latter. I sold that thing and never really rode it again. I call that my first real comprimise with the Lord. At the time I felt diligent and faithful for being able to give up my ride because of my impressions. Later I realized that, indeed, I should have probably showed a little more humility. In any case, as I read this chapter of Nephi, I think of how Laman and Lemuel obeyed while murmuring and I see how sometimes we come to a point when we just have to unhappily do what the Lord asks.
The last thing I want to mention is Zoram. Since the first time I read the Book of Mormon, I was really impressed with Zoram and his situation. He was fundamentally an enemy of Lehi's family, and yet he quickly agreed to join them in the wilderness when they explained the circumstances, and I believe that he did so out of faith. The Lord must have given him a powerful witness, because he turned out to be a pretty good traveling companion. He must have been a lonely bachelor looking for a really long road trip.

1 Nephi Chapter 3

I cannot read this chapter without thinking about several things. First, Laman and Lemuel are idiots. Second, Laman and Lemuel are all of us, but we often fail to see them in ourselves. Actually, I believe we REFUSE to see them within us. To be sure, the Laman and Lemuel we see in this chapter are extreme examples of doubtfulness, but I think about how often I hear the Prophet speak and do not act with the faith of Nephi.



Do I read my scriptures everyday? Not always.



Do I hold Family Home Evening every week? No.



Do I have food storage? Not unless you consider 2 cases of Top Ramen food storage.





Do I attend the temple to worship, out of obedience, or for some other reason? A little bit of all.





Why is it that I often fail to complete simple things and still expect Laman and Lemuel to love the idea of leaving home and possessions behind to wander "aimlessly" in the woods because of someone else's vision?





I know that I have always been quick to judge Laman and Lemuel, and they are surely painted in a darker shade throughout the scriptures, but by slowing down to really ponder this chapter, I have discovered that I have a little Laman and Lemuel inside of me, and I must learn to convert the energy being used on that attitude into pure Nephi-like faith.





I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no comandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for the that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

The other thing I always think about is the fact that the boys "cast lots", leaving the results up to chance. I always wonder why we don't hear about Laman doing any murmuring when the lot "fell upon" him, obligating him to go in unto the house of Laban. Was faith in chance so powerful that they didn't bother to argue with it? Maybe, maybe not.

Perhaps they understood Proverbs better than we might assume:

Proverbs 18:18 The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty.

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

I have always taken comfort in the fact that the Lord is overseeing our coin tosses and stick pulls, but at the same time, we cannot expect to toss a coin in order to force an answer from the Lord. How should the coin toss be used? I do not know exactly.