SUNDAY SCHOOL!

So, I am teaching Sunday School this year at Church. This year's study is the Book of Mormon - just finished studying the New Testament this past year. I thought it would be a ripe time to blog again.

Resignation

For the off chance that someone is still checking this blog, I just wanted to say officially that I gave up on it a while ago. I decided I had time to either continue the blog, or finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. You can see which I opted for. Thanks for reading and especially thank you to Paul and Steve for contributing your wisdom and insight.

Faithful

Nephi's determination is inspiring. "We will not go...until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us. Wherefore, let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord" (1 Nephi 3:15-16). Despite setbacks, so far due partly to their own shortcomings, and therefore being "exceedingly sorrowful"(v.14), Nephi is committed, loyal, faithful. So, they try again, fail again, and are in even worse shape than before. But Nephi seems undeterred. He trusts the Lord and, further, wishes to be trustworthy.
Stephen Robinson wrote: "Can you be trusted to faithfully hold your course? Just as a spouse who can be trusted to keep the marriage covenant can be called faithful, so those who can be trusted to keep their gospel covenants can be called faithful. I wouldn't like it if my wife told me she had to decide every morning whether she still loved me or not, or if she told me she only stayed with me because she hadn't found a reason to leave - yet. [God] is entitled to more of a committment than that out of me." Nephi had good reasons to leave. His faithfulness kept him on course.

A bunch of baboons

These guys really had no plan. If just one of them would have given it a little thought, they would have realized the absurdity of expecting they could go to Laban's house, ask for a treasured possession, and that he would just hand it over. It's not that far of a stretch for me to imagine Laban taking them for robbers. Maybe he assumed Laman had a knife hidden somewhere in case Laban wouldn't cooperate (2 Nephi 3:11-13).

2 Nephi 2:23-24

A wise man (Ralph) once told me: "Some people are sent here to be tested. Some are sent here the testers. I am the latter."

Typo?

"And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father." I know the second half of the verse explicitly states why they murmured, but this first part really sounds like Nephi making a general statement on older siblings. (1 Nephi 2:12)

Lehi to Laman

"When [Lehi] saw that the waters of the river emptied into the fountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Laman, saying: O that thou mightest be like unto this river, continually running into the fountain of all righteousness!" (1 Nephi 2:9). I love this analogy. The river can't help but empty into the sea. I am reminded of a scene in the movie Shadowlands when C. S. Lewis, answering one of his friends suggestions on why he prays, says, "That's not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping."