1 Nephi 21-22; 2 Nephi 1-2

I wanted to focus on 2 Nephi 2. This chapter is loaded and it's one of my most read and marked chapters in the entire Book of Mormon next to Alma 32, which I will get to much later.

Chaper 2 talks about opposition, agency and the fall of Adam.

Opposition

vs 11 says this "For it must needs be, that there is an a opposition in all things. If not so . . . righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility." - - -I don't think that I could explain it any better than this verse does. We are all faced with opposition every day and we should use it to grow and learn from it to better ourselves.

Agency

I have broken down agency into 6 things with correlateing verses, so that I can better understand it. We were given agency so that we can choose right from wrong.

1. Free to choose (vs 27)
2. alternatives/opposition (vs 11)
3. knowledge (vs 24,26)
4. entice (vs 16)
5. consequences (vs 27)
6. repetance/ atonement

Side note ** Each of the verses listed next to the key word explains why. **

The Fall

Most people are taught that Adam sinned when he ate the fruit, but really he trangressed, which is different.

Here are the definitions to what each one means

To transgress is to violate a law

To sin is an offense to religious or moral law

Now with that in mind, Adam had 2 things that he must do. 1) to mulitply and replenish the earth, which was commandment from God and 2) to not partake to of the forbidden fruit which was in a sense a law.

Adam had to trangress the law of eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in order to fulfil God's first commandment which was to mulitply and replenish the earth. Without that none of us would exsist and Adam and Eve would have remained in the Garden of Eden in what would be a state of innocence. For those of you who are reading this I hope this makes sense, b/c to me it does, b/c I've grown up being taught this.

One of my favorites scriptures explains this and it says (vs 25) "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."

That's all I'm going to write about today.

disclaimer - -Remember these are my notes and thoughts on what I've read.

1 Nephi 17-20

Chapter 17

vs 3 - If we keep the commandments the Lord will provide for us what we are in need of

Nephi chastizes his brothers and relates the story about Moses and the Israelites and how wicked they had become

vs 44 - There is a line in this verse that I really liked and it says "and the Jews also sought to take away his life." - Nephi is explaining that the Jews wanted to kill Lehi - the Jews are the ones who wanted to crucify Jesus. I love how in the scriptures many of the prophets are types for Christ! It makes the scriptures easier to understand by knowing this.

vs 45 - this is a really great verse that I wanted to share. Here is a part of the verse that I really liked "and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words." I also had a quote in my scriptures that goes along with this verse. Quote: "We can be too busy to pay attention to the promptings of the spirit . . . It is a spiritual voice that comes into your heart." Boyd K. Packer (The Cloven Tongues of Fire, May 2000 Ensign) We shouldn't keep our hearts closed b/c then we can't hear what is important

Chapter 18

vs 10-15 - Nephi is bound and his brothers become wicked and the Liahona stops working. When we are being wicked we drive away the spirit and we tend to loose our way. We need to repent so that we can have his Spirit with us always.

1 Nephi 13-16

These chapters had a lot going on so I will briefly describe what they were about.

Chapter 13

vs 12-19 These chapters talk about Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the Americas

vs 28 The bible was changed to benefit the presiding church/ religion of the time

The Great and Abominable Church - some say that it was the Catholic church b/c it was corrupt, but I think that it's any religion that distorts the truthfulness of the God's teachings to benefit themselves. For example right now there are some Muslims who believe that a Jahid (sp?) is war for God but from what we are seeing it is only an excuse to go on a killing rampage and hide behind their religion.

Nephi sees the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine & Covenants

Chapter 16

vs 2 - Nephi tells his brothers that "the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center." - - this is b/c they know that they are being wicked and don't want to hear about it.

vs 3 - if you are doi g what's right you are not defensive and will listen to what is being said

vs 10 - Lehi finds the Liahona - this can be likened to the a modern day GPS system to help us find our way.

1 Nephi 9-12

I've been readinng but keep forgetting to post. So I will be posting from the last few days worth of readings.

Chapter 10

Nephi is told about Christ and the Atonement, that John the Baptist will baptize Christ

I also noticed that as I read that the very first account of the Olive Branches is mentioned. (vs 12)


Chapter 11

Part of this chapter is about Nephi's dream and another comparsion to the Tree of Life

• Tree = Love of God, Mary is also compared to the tree
• Fruit = Jesus Christ
• River = Love of God

Nephi is shown Christ's ministry and crucifixtion

Chapter 12

In this chapter Nephi is shown the resurrection of Christ

1 Ne 5-8

Chapter 5

Sariah starts to murmur against the Lord and Lehi. Sometimes our parents will question the Lord but they should ask the Lord for comfort when they are unsure. They are not always perfect and I as a parent myself I sometimes forget and will complain but I know that if I ask the Lord for his help he will comfort my fears.

This chapter also touches on what the Brass plates contained and this is what I found.

1. account of the creation (vs 11)
2. account of Adam and Eve (vs 11)
3. record of the Jews from the beginning (vs 12)
4. prophecies fo the prophets (vs 13)
5. genealogy (vs 14)

Chapter 7

when things get tough we forget to seek out the Lord for help and sometime we rebel against what is right

Chapter 8 - The Tree of Life

This is one of my favorite chapters of first Nephi. The dream starts out with Lehi in a "dark and dreary waste" (vs 7) - - - I interpret this as the trials of our faith

Lehi prays and then he finds himself in a "large and spacious field" and sees a tree a little ways off in the distance and he walks toward to eat the fruit.- - - to me the fruit is Eternal Life or the gospel

When we have tasted the sweetness of the fruit we want everyone to partake and enjoy it, but not everyone likes it or is unsure.

Then Lehi notices that there is a rod next to the tree and this is supposed to represent the Word of God (the scriptures). And along the rod is a straight and narrow path, which can also represent the Gospel.

Across the river is large and spacious building which in this vision is representing the World and the wickedness in it. How many times have we listened to the mocking that comes from this building that we sometimes shy away from the path? Sometimes we listen and sometimes we don't but we should never let go of the rod.

When we let go the "mist of darkness" surrounds us and we get lost in the temptations of the world. We should be clinging to the rod with all our might. It's hard for us when we see a family member who lets go and can't find their way back. We should be praying for them in hopes that they do find it and grasp and hold on to it. Just like Lehi called out to Laman and Lemuel.

I just love how we can use the scriptures to liken them in our lives so that they become more personal. This is what I'm trying to do and by writing down my thoughts as I read will help me to do this.

1 Nephi 1-4

Tonight I started a new reading schedule, thanks to my friend Brittany who drew it up and asked who wanted to read the Book of Mormon with her before conference. So I took up the challenge and thought that I would write down some thoughts that I had as I was reading.

Here is what I gathered from my reading tonight. Forgive me if this seems scattered, I just wrote down what I was thinking as I read.

Chapter 1

I never noticed before but Lehi had a vision in which he saw Christ in his full Glory along with him were his 12 apostles (vs 9)

Lehi was shown Jerusalem's destruction

When Lehi told the Jews that they needed to repent they were angry b/c they didn't want someone telling them that they were wrong in doing wicked things. This made me think of when a child, more like a teenager, is being told by their parents that they are being disobedient and that they need to change or something bad is going to happen. (vs 19-20)

Chapter 2

Lehi shows Laman the river and says that he should be like the river which is "continually flowing into the fountains of righteousness" (vs 9) we should always strive to be righteous and be constant in doing so.

Lehi shows Lemuel the valley and says that the he should be "firm and steadfast and immoveable in keeping the commandments of the Lord" (vs 10) We should strive to be immoveable in keeping the commandments and not faulter, but we are not always perfect but should be trying.

Chapter 3

This chapter i think was talking about how every parent wants what's best for their child and will do what it takes to make them happy even when they are not being righteous or are struggling with their faith.

Chapter 4

We should always keep the commandments because when we do the Lord will bless us (vs 14) Just like when Nephi trusted in the Lord to help get the plates. We should also have Faith that the Lord will help us when we need him.