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O How Great the Plan of Our God!

I decided to take a day and listen to a Conference talk from Dieter F. Uchtdorf while taking notes on here. After we use something amazing and take advantage of it for so long, we consider it common-place. He uses the term soul-expanding doctrine which I love. The doctrine of Jesus Christ is to expand our souls. Not make it more annoying to be tied to this mortal body, but to amplify the connection. Make our bodies more in tune with our spirits. He asks us to consider and remember how we felt when we first comprehended that we were truly children of the almighty God. I don't know how well I remember that moment. I recall some instances where I knew, but the first time I realized would have been a very very long time ago. But if I describe the way I felt, there was an overwhelming sense of importance. Not in the sense that I was better than others, but I felt proud. I felt like God was proud of me and that I had unlimited potential. I felt as though I was deeply loved by someone...
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1 Nephi 1:20

"And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." Okay, so in the last post I believe I mentioned that maybe they weren't that different then people today rejecting the prophets, but since this verse is mainly about how people were seeking to kill Lehi, maybe I am wrong about that. I know that the world is supposed to get increasingly more wicked, but I have a really hard time thinking that someday the world will be seeking to kill church leaders. Hard world to imagine. It is interesting that Nephi relates him to prophets of old. Maybe Nephi felt the same way. Maybe someday when we talk about the prophets being rejected...
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1 Nephi 1:19

"And it came to pass that the Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of them; for he truly testified of their wickedness and their abominations; and he testified that the things which he saw and heard and also the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world." This one seems deep to me, but we will see how far we get. There is a chance that I might stretch this one over two days but I will try my best to get what I can from it. So, surprise surprise, the Jews mock Lehi. Not surprising right? I know it is easy to think about people laughing, pointing fingers, or throwing things at Lehi, but I honestly don't think that is how these things happen. I know when I was younger when it talked about them mocking and rejecting the prophets, I thought it was blatant and rude. I thought it was something to indicate how wicked they were because they were openly mocking and laughing at those ...
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1 Nephi 1:18

"Therefore, I would that ye should know, that after the Lord had shown so many marvelous things unto my father, Lehi, yea, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, behold he went forth among the people, and began to prophecy and to declare unto them concerning the things which he had both seen and heard." Okay, there are some relatively harebrained ideas going on with this one so just bear with me. I think we read this story so often that we just assume that Lehi knows from the beginning that they are going to be commanded to leave. We have Lehi receiving all of these visions about the destruction of Jerusalem and at first I don't think they knew that leaving was an option. Keep in mind that leaving at that time was not like moving now. I assume that Jerusalem was the city center at the time and though you could probably get outside the blast radius, what do the suburbs of New York do without New York? So when Lehi starts declaring unto Jerusalem the things that are goi...
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1 Nephi 1:17

If you remember in the last verse Néphi talks about how he can't and won't make a full account of all the things that his father heard, saw, and said, but that he will record some. I love moments like this when you can almost imagine Néphi engraving this and making clarifications as he goes. He opens by saying that he is going to make a record of his life but then spends the rest of the verse talking about how he is going to finish the abridgment of his father's life first. It is my impression, which may or may not be accurate, that Néphi was commanded by his father to make this record. The way he talks about it seems to me like he has a duty to do and that duty has prompted a desire to make his own record of his own life.   The only other thing about this verse that really struck me is that Néphi had to make these plates by himself...by hand. That is intense! I really think this is more than just something Néphi wants to do. I believe that is confirmed later and that ...
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1 Nephi 1:16

"And now I, Nephi, do not make a full account of the things which my father hatch written, for he hath written many things which he saw in visions and in dreams; and he also hath written many things which he prophesied and spake unto his children, of which I shall not make a full account." This is an interesting verse to include because he says openly there there are several things that his father saw in vision that he is not going to write about. Very good to know, but kind of a waste of precious space when you first think about it. Of course we could always assume that there were things that his father experienced that wouldn't be written. The cool part is though that Nephi documents that his father was writing them too. The record or personal history of Lehi would be something to behold I am sure. He talks about him experiencing many things in visions and in dreams. If you look under the footnote on dreams it takes you to the scripture that goes something like "...
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1 Nephi 1:15

"And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had see, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him." I think this one made more sense to be when looked at in a different order. Not that it is a hard verse to understand, but the order is backward of the way I would read it for comprehension. Because of the things which he had seen - meaning the things which the Lord had shown unto him. It is an interesting distinction that Nephi makes right there. It is subtle, but very direct. It was not Lehi that called down this vision for himself. He had only seen these things because the Lord had chosen to show them to him. On occasion I subconsciously chase a "vision" per se. Sometimes I am studying not for my edification or spiritual growth, but because in my mind I am looking for some kind of spiritual marker or badge that I can earn by completing the Boo...
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