Sacrament Prayers

Wheat:

O God the Eternal 
Father I ask you
in the name of your Son 
Jesus 
Christ
to bless
and sanctify 
this bread
to my soul
who partakes of it
that I may eat 
in remembrance 
of the body
of your Son
and witness to you O God
my Eternal 
Father
that I am willing 
to take upon me 
the name of your Son
and always remember Him
and keep his commandments 
which He 
has given me
that I may always 
have His Spirit 
to be with me
Amen


Grapes:

O God, the Eternal 
Father I ask you
in the name of your Son
Jesus
Christ
to bless
and sanctify
this wine
to my soul
who drinks of it
that I may do it 
in remembrance
of the blood
of your Son
which was shed
for me
that I may witness 
to you O God
my Eternal
Father
that I do always 
remember Him
that I may have 
His Spirit 
to be with me
Amen

Edit

Tonight I felt to make a change.  What was previously linked as a "Sloppy Copy of the Book of Mormon" is retitled to Simple book of Mormon.  The URL is now here: http://simplebookofmormon.blogspot.com/  I hope you find as much benefit from it as I have.  

The EET (Earliest Extant Transcripts) and my Sloppy Coppy

1. I'm so excited to share this.  Below is a message from Chris Hamill, who has asked for help in distributing this message.  Several months ago I had some impressions to seek out a copy of the Book of Mormon in Microsoft Word form.  Something that I could edit and do so fairly quickly using the "replace" editing tool.  I felt prompted to make a "translation" that my kids could read a little more readily that used language they were familiar with.  I hoped to share my love of it and hopefully spark some love for it in them too.  In asking around for such a copy, I was connected to Chris Hamill, who shared with me that he was working on this extensive project described below.  In my religious tradition I have tended to hold fast to the "as long as it is translated correctly" to the 8th Article of Faith.  And I tended to believe that no other Bible beyond the KJV would do, neglecting the fact that Joseph Smith was commanded extensively to work on a new translation of the Bible.  The Bible is not intended to be a stumbling block between faiths, nor is it to be an idol to worship as we seek to discover God. As there are countless languages in the world, it seems appropriate to me that it would serve us well to get as close to the original intent of the scriptures as possible, but that cannot always be done with definitive language.  The scriptures are to describe spiritual concepts in physical terms, which is really difficult, if not sometimes impossible in this world.  But there is something important about discovering the original intent of the speaker of the words in scriptures, and unfortunately adulteration happens over time, as our language changes.  Chris and his friends have sought to overcome some of the adulteration that has happened, and help us as readers get more acquainted with the original intent and words of the earliest copies of the Book of Mormon and other scriptures revealed through Joseph Smith.  The information below describes their efforts in their own words. 

A small group of us has spent most of the year going through the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, reaching back to the original manuscripts to get as true a version of what Joseph offered us as possible and showing what changes have happened since his death. We are getting bids to have a triple combination volume printed in the coming months. For the moment we want to make people aware of this effort. Electronic versions of the scriptures are free for download at
anoffenderforaword.blogspot.com in Word, PDF and some ebook formats. There are also instructions for using a Kindle reader or app with the PDFs as an ebook. The PDFs give a clear representation of how the volume will look.

We will notify everyone when orders can be placed for your own copies. We are trying to keep the cost to around $20 per copy. These will be printed on biblestock paper and will have large margins for easy note taking. An effort to produce a complete JST bible is also underway. A complete Kindle JST KJV is available by Ken Lutes on Amazon. He is the one working on a complete print version. When that work is ready to order we will let you know. He is not a part of this movement.

This volume of scripture is not official to the Remnant Movement in any sense, and we hope they may be of interest to Mormons of all types. While many of us felt inspired during the process, we offer this volume as a gift to our Lord and to our friends and families. Feel free to take this work and improve on it.

2. As I described above, months ago I was prompted to create a revision for my children.  In receiving a copy from Chris, I began doing some edits of words to essentially create a 2016 language friendly copy of the Book of Mormon.  The Bible has dozens of editions in languages to help readers read and understand it.  There are copies for children, teenagers, and people of multiple languages.  It seemed peculiar to me that the Book of Mormon had never seen such a revision for children or teenagers, although it has been translated to multiple languages.  As I began editing the MS Word copy, someone shared on a FB Group that there were two other copies on the market, edited for easy readability for readers who needed help understanding the big words. One is here and the other is here.  There may be more.  I purchased both and set my project aside, thinking the work I intended to do had already been squared away by someone else... times two!

It wasn't until a few months passed that I felt to open up one of the copies I purchased, and I discovered that I didn't appreciate the interpretation that the one copy held of the concept I was studying.  It held a current LDS view of the Holy Spirit, while the original Book of Mormon holds a different view, which is the one that Joseph Smith explained in the Lectures on Faith.  The new edition did exactly what we avoid translations for the purpose of doing.  It changed the meaning to fit our current paradigm, while not holding to the original intent.  It absolutely LOST the spiritual meaning in favor of a completely morphicized (I just made that word up) view.

In trying to create my own translation for my kids, I see how difficult this is. It's really impossible to create a translation that everyone will like, agree with, or appreciate.  But there is absolutely a richness I discovered when taking that original file, and editing it for my own purposes, and trying to do so while seeking to maintain the original spiritual intent.  Mormon... that dude had quite a task!  Some examples of things I did in my version:

• Changed "ye" to "you.
• Changed "thee" to "thou". 
• Removed the "-eth" suffixes of as many words as I could find.
• Removed ALL punctuation. 
• Removed "and it came to pass" and replaced with "and so then". (I discovered that "and so then" is very redundant, but it also speeds up the reading as I don't get stopped up by it as I did with the prior words.  I use "so" a lot in my day-to-day language.)  

I'm currently contemplating what to do with "behold", as it's frequently used but seems to have multiple meanings.  It brings me, as the reader, to the point of stopping and questioning why these words were chosen.  It also shows language patterns, especially when certain phrases are used repeatedly in connection with a certain concept.  It has been a rich, rich experience which only unfolds more open to me.  

So I'm going to add, when time allows, links on this site to download your own digital copy of the work Chris and the gang have done.  But I HIGHLY encourage you to mark it up!  Save it once as an original, then choose how you'd like to edit it (if at all) and save it again as a new version.  Let it broaden your love for the message.  The purpose of this book, which Nephi says right at the beginning his intent is to bring us to Christ.  How awesome is that?!?!?!  Fall in love with the characters and their hearts, and get to know them.  

And finally, I kept asking, as I made my edits, if this is something that could be shared.  I don't know that my edits will be useful to anyone else.  But I did decide to share them as I go.  This will likely be a project that I fail at.  So don't commit me to being perfect at this.  But I'm going to go chapter by chapter and translate it for my children.  I'll be sharing them at a basic site located here: [edit] http://simplebookofmormon.blogspot.com/.  It is a sloppy copy!  I have intentionally misspelled "Sloppy Coppy" to illustrate that is it absolutely NOT perfect.  But it has helped me, and I suppose it may help some readers who are dyslexic, who get slowed down by punctuation, or who really need to loosen their shoe's lachets a bit if you know what I mean as they read for content over grammar.  I DARE you to print out the pages of the EET linked above, chapter by chapter, and mark them up.  Use them for advanced study.  I can't imagine the Lord would be displeased in the efforts to get to understand these riches further, even if we got a few words wrong.  Use it well my friends! 

The Unknown Land of Secret Combinations

Hot on my mind lately has been the nature of secret combinations.  When I started this blog several years ago, it was a direct result of having been burned by being a part of one.  I didn't realize it at the time what was going on, but after studying the scriptures my eyes had been opened to what had taken place.  I failed at keeping the secrets of the group, and therefore was expedited OUT of it.  Recently again, I experienced the burns of a secret combination, only this time I was on the outside, watching how they work towards outsiders.

It is regrettable to me that more time is not spent in discussion on this topic in Church.  I have spent quite a bit of time in Primary, so I really can't lament that it's not covered at all (since I wasn't in Sunday School anyway), but rarely is it a hot topic for discussion.  Yet ironically I feel it is one of the biggest downfalls of the Book of Mormon people, and Mormon even comments that it brought down the whole Nephite civilization.  I don't believe much time has been spent on consideration of how we might see secret combinations in our day, except perhaps in the periodic lessons on the parts of the Book of Mormon preceding Christ's coming.  I suppose the topic may get 20 minutes of thought every 4 years or so.  If that.  

Helaman 7 begins the prophecy of Nephi, son of Helaman, who expounds all manner of the wickedness of the people who preceded the coming of the Lord.  Nephi was a phenomenal example of how to know the Lord, for he was given to preach and call repentance, as well as hear the voice of the Lord directly.  He is given power to seal on earth and in heaven, as well as move mountains.  

Prior to Nephi-son-of-Helaman hearing the Lord speak power unto him, Nephi was contemplating the nature of sin that engulfed the Nephites, such that the chief judge's brother had murdered said chief judge.  

"And it came to pass as he was thus pondering – being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities – and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him..." - Helaman 10:3

Worth noting is Nephi's observation of their

• secret works of darkness
• murderings
• plunderings
• all manner of iniquities

We can likely understand what the last three works are.  But what of the first?  Are secret works of darkness only those things which are done in whore houses?  Or are these only applicable to places where secret, dark oaths are made regarding murder?  Like gangs?

This is something I can imagine which caused Nephi some confusion, as to how such a delightsome people could turn to secret works of darkness.

I don't know how to stress how disillusioned we are to think that we do not have such things among the best of us.  I have come to know for myself that we are riddled with secret works of darkness, and even foster such things.  How?

Consider the tight knit group of girls at church, be it in Young Women's or Relief Society.  Where are their loyalties?  To one another, or to you as someone that one of them visit teaches, or serves in any capacity?

How about the Bishop and his counselors?  Do they have loyalty to you, as someone perhaps confiding in their abilities to provide counsel?  (Am I stretching this too far?)  Do these men share your confidences with one another, to try to lift you up in prayer?  Do these counselors then take the burden home, sharing with their wife, who then shares with her tight knit group of friends in a private Facebook group?  Possible?  I know I have heard stories from bishop's wives who assert that their husband spent so much time on their knees in silent prayer on behalf of their ward family.  This is phenomenal, and beautiful.  But I can't imagine that all bishops are this strict with confidences.  Maybe so?  Perhaps it is a spiritual gift which comes with the mantle.

If not, this has great potential to become a secret combination.  Call me crazy, but it bears great capacity to be true.  Perhaps there is no intent to do murder, but there is great potential for a confidence to be broken, whether implicit or implied.  It is right to note that we ought not trust any man but God, so perhaps the consequence of private information being leaked is par for the course.  But in truth, "secret" information has been shared in "secret counsels" and has been provided to spouses under the commitment (oath) of secrecy, that one ought not share.  We foster this simply in the structure of our private meetings and presidencies.

Perhaps this is what God intended.  But perhaps not.  I submit that there is a great potential for evil among us in these "tight knit groups", and we ignore the warning of the Book of Mormon by never, ever ever ever ever talking about secret combinations in Church.  These opportunities for secret combinations, secret trusts, secret oaths, and loyalties being severely broken causing hearts to burn in sheer pain of the disloyalty are rampant.  We foster these kinds of environments.  And we are all likely unknowingly guilty or participating on various ends of the situation, without even thinking twice.

Think I jest?  Or exaggerate?  Ask yourself, how many private meetings have you been in where secret confidences were shared with you or another soul?  Was permission granted for these things to be shared?  And what should happen if the private information was shared, without permission?  Would relationships be severed?  Could forgiveness be easily granted?

"Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people.  And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." -Helaman 10:4 

Let us rid ourselves of secret works of darkness.  The need for cliques which cause those watching to feel excluded, secret groups where we gossip about others, or places where people can "only trust one another" and "have one another's back" ought to be reconsidered.  I understand the need for some privacy, and I'm not saying that from time to time we all need a close friend or three to help sort things out.  (Hello, Jesus?  Can you help me out?)  I would consider such friendships a gift.  But to have secret groups, book clubs, BFFs, etc. at the outright exclusion of others looking on who would enjoy participating in such a group only serves to destroy the unity of the whole.  Why would an onlooker bother attempting to foster a relationship with someone who is known to be a part of such a thing?  Could they trust that anything spoken in their company would not be shared and chewed on by the private group?  It is not Zion, and Zion cannot be achieved when such things abound.  For the hearts are not pure when others are deemed "less" than those in the group, and pride rules the day.  Seek to root these things out.  

Hebrew Book of Mormon

Because you should know.

You can buy the Book of Mormon in Hebrew, should you care to share with a Jew.  Because I know you all have Jewish friends.  Or you are Jewish, and you'd like to read it in Hebrew.  And because it's supposed to go to Jew and Gentile.

Ta da!

God. Bless.

Radical Ideas

Once upon a time there were two groups of people.  One hated the other, so extremely that they would continuously find reasons to come and try to kill them.  One day, some men from the more peaceful of the two groups were so sincerely changed, that they had great desires to teach and share with the more hostile group, what had changed their hearts.  They took their royal desires to their father, the king of the land, and asked if they could be excused indefinitely while they went to try to preach to these hostile murders.

Their father was of course, quite afraid, and being the thoughtful, inspired man he was, he took the question to the Lord in prayer, seeking revelation.  The Lord promised that if he should permit his sons to do this thing, that He (the Lord) would protect them.  They should all return unharmed – or alive, at very least.

So the father took comfort and gave them permission to leave the relative safety of their more peaceful land and embark into hostile territory.

Long story short, as the brothers and friends took their journey, they ended up being quite successful.  In fact, extremely successful.  Thousands were converted away from their wicked ways, and turned to God.  They felt so extremely sorry for their previous murderous ways that when their fellow citizens came and tried to kill them for their crazy new spiritual views, they willingly fell down at their swords.

After one gnarly battle, so many of the hardened, murderous fellow-citizens were so touched by this lack of resistance that they too were converted to whatever it was that had changed their countrymen's hearts.

But after awhile, a more hardened group among the murderers started stirring the pot, as they didn't feel too keen on all the love and joy going around, so they came up to go against their fellowmen AGAIN.

Back to the sons of the king.  Their hearts were in turmoil, because these people who they grew to love so much were being slain for absolutely no reason, beyond a change of heart.  They thought if they might go and ask the people of their land if these new friends can come and dwell there, surely they would do something to help.  And so they asked.  And their request was granted.  The refugees were given a space of land to inherit, free of charge.  While these people were never a hindrance or burden, down the road they became a great blessing to the people of their new land.

Their story can be found in the Book of Alma, in the Book of Mormon.

----------------------

There is a war raging in the Middle East, where believers of Christ are being murdered.  Perhaps their story is not as dramatic as the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, but their situation is just as perilous.  They have no defenses.  They are being killed strictly because of differing religion.  I propose that while this nation hangs in wait for a sword of destruction to fall for our unrepentant, hard, controlling hearts, that one spring of hope might be to offer a space of peace and freedom for these Christian refugees.  Perhaps God would spare us a little longer.  I have heard one Democratic senator, somewhere, propose such an idea, and I support it.  There is a lot to fear in opening up one's homeland to those of another culture, but perhaps these folks might prove to be a blessing to us, much like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.  

Alma to Helaman - Psst... by the way

Dear Austin, 

Yesterday I was reading a few of the words of Alma.  I do believe he's one of my favorite prophets, although I almost wonder if he called himself one.

In Alma 45:9, Alma's talking to his son, Helaman, as in the leader of the 2000 Ammonites (aka "Stripling Warriors").  He shares a prophecy with him in a very interesting way.

9 But behold, I have somewhat to prophesy unto thee; but what I prophesy unto thee ye shall not make known; yea, what I prophesy unto thee shall not be made known, even until the prophecy is fulfilled; therefore write the words which I shall say.

10 And these are the words: Behold, I perceive that this very people, the Nephites, according to the spirit of revelation which is in me, in four hundred years from the time that Jesus Christ shall manifest himself unto them, shall dwindle in unbelief.

I've read this more times than I can count.  Certain parts never struck me like they did yesterday and today.

Alma told Helaman something that no one else would know.  He prohibited it, which sharing and prohibition were likely directed by the Lord.  Why did he tell Helaman, and why could Helaman not share it?

These things were known among the prophets, but the general population would not be made aware at all.  I wonder, besides the obvious, why?  There were plenty of leaders warning the people to repent.  And every other time I've read this, I've wondered, "Well duh.  It was prophesied.  Didn't the people hear the voices of warning?  Why didn't they do something?"  But it occurred to me that maybe they didn't know this destruction was imminent at the time of 400 years post-resurrection.  While the true prophets warned, the bulk of the people likely ignored the warnings, and because of it, they ripened in pride and iniquity.

It makes me wonder what prophecies we might be not paying much attention to.  Like what about the warning and condemnation the church members as a whole received in the 1800s for not studying and using the Book of Mormon more.  Do you think we're any better?  Do we know who Aminadab is?  Or Gidgidoni or Lachoneus?  Does it matter?  We may not need to memorize stories, but we should know the words of this piece of scripture well enough that we can recall the stories of these people as well as we can recall the stories of the more commonly known people like Nephi and Lehi.  Just my opinion.

Love you!
~Mom<3   

How We Roll

I just caught a quick glimpse of this image, copied from "Joseph Smith, the Prophet"'s Nerdbook page.  (I wonder if Joseph Smith thinks it's great, having his own Nerdbook page.  Wonder who writes on his behalf?:)

(Sorry, they didn't give a photo source and I have no idea who did it! But it's nice, isn't it? :)

It made me laugh.  Today I was reading in Denver Snuffer's Nephi's Isaiah, and he spent quite a bit of time explaining a discrepancy between Lucy Mack Smith's account of what happened to the plates.  Lucy writes that Joseph gave the plates to the Angel Moroni, and most Mormons repeat that that's what happened to them.  But Snuffer takes a moment to clarify what scripture, in particular Nephi, dictates, and it's different than what Lucy's account describes.  (He also explains how Lucy's account is true, yet not accurate if questioning where the plates are now.)  Snuffer actually takes time to evaluate the details in the Testimony of the Three Witnesses, as well as the Testimony of the Eight Witnesses (both located in every Book of Mormon).  He highlights key differences in wording, and illustrates exactly how the plates were indeed returned to the place where Joseph was instructed to return them, rather than taken away completely by Moroni.  Yes, Joseph did return them to Moroni for a time, who then shared them with the "three", but he then returned them back to Joseph, who then, as it lists in the Testimony of the Eight, showed the plates to them for their account.  But only the observant or questioning would notice the difference in the current residence for the plates.

Anyways... all of this back and forth in the book shortly led to how we obtain a witness of the Holy Ghost, and it was quite an interesting take on the Holy Ghost.  In fact, it's one of the best descriptions and clarifications on the Holy Ghost I've ever read.  (This post leads up an incredibly well done series that has changed my understanding of the Holy Spirit.)  We, as Mormons, do a great job at confusing a lot of what's written in scripture.  But I really love that this gospel at it's heart, is so simple.  

So why the picture?  Joseph communicated quite a bit with angels, and when reading his accounts and seeing beautiful depictions, I think it's fun to realize that the paintings can never do the real experiences justice.  But I applaud the artists for trying.  What a beautiful depiction.  

And why is it funny?  Who gave these angels permission to stand upon the podium?  Was that ledge put there for angels to descend upon?  Probably.  (I can just hear them saying, "That's how we roll!":)  Could you ever imagine doing this as a mortal?  The audacity!  Now try envisioning how fun it would be if angels appeared in sacrament meeting, and decided to make their appearance by standing upon the pulpit.  That would be quite the sacrament meeting.  I hope someday they do it, just because.  

~Jen:)