{"id":34484,"date":"2015-12-08T04:38:47","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T09:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=34484"},"modified":"2015-12-04T09:39:58","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T14:39:58","slug":"reading-nephi-823-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2015\/12\/reading-nephi-823-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Nephi – 8:23-28"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"068-068-the-liahona-full\"<\/a>Why didn\u2019t Lehi and his family ever see or need the rod of iron or the path when they journeyed to the tree? And by contrast, why did so many of those who sought after and obtained the path & rod, then fall away? Reading closely, it is only those who relied on the rod to get through the mists of darkness that are specifically noted to have fallen away (of course, at least some of those who failed to use the rod were lost\u2014a bit of a catch 22). And how could folks fall away simply because of the glitterazzi who were mocking them? They\u2019d partaken of the blasted fruit already! Of course I don\u2019t know. But here\u2019s a few thoughts.<\/p>\n

Lehi & family\u2019s conversion seems much more secure. They had to make use of the Spirit, or of their own pure striving, and they were motivated by family and by the tree & its fruit. I\u2019m not sure what the motivations or social support systems of the others were\u2014Lehi and Nephi don\u2019t point that out\u2014but the existence of a straight path and a rod of iron in the midst of a dark and dreary (empty space!) world seems to be a big part of their falling away. That resonates with me. We\u2019re in the midst of a big, dark, fathomless, meaningless world. Lots of folks are desperate for and latch onto a path or a rod or some form of stability that\u2019s provided; and for some, it\u2019s clear that the path-rod itself is the comfort and the reward. In the midst of darkness, in the absence of inherent meaning, they are consoled by a straight, undeviating, perfectly reliable course (even if that course, in and of itself, simply leads through an empty field). I don\u2019t know that I\u2019m terribly opposed to that fact, or think poorly of it. An empty landscape (or nihilistic universe) is terrifying or at least bone-deep daunting. And clearly various forms of stability (e.g., a church) works for lots of folks\u2014it can even bring them to the tree of life. Maybe it\u2019s even necessary for some. And maybe that\u2019s what our church is. But trying to rely wholly on such institutional structures and helps ultimately won\u2019t work, any more than relying on a manual will work to give you a great lesson\u2014both are insufficient. As our apostles keep reminding us, there is no church in the next life.<\/p>\n

I think my favorite (April 2015) General Conference talk was Elder Wilford Anderson\u2019s. \u201cI can teach you to dance, but you\u2019ll have to hear the music yourself.\u201d I think Anderson\u2019s music relates to the fruit. I can\u2019t imagine that anyone who tasted what Lehi tasted would fall away, certainly not simply because others mocked. They had the fruit\u2014they even ate it!\u2014but I don\u2019t think they tasted <\/em>it. Not as Lehi tasted it. Maybe it\u2019s also the contrast: had they walked for hours in darkness first as he had? I don\u2019t know. And maybe Lehi\u2019s hours and hours in the darkness was simply a repeated circumambulation of the field\u2014he had no path and rod, so maybe he simply never came to the tree until he was able to pray and receive revelation of the tree.<\/p>\n

God bless me with a full quota of darkness before giving me the fruit, so that I don\u2019t miss what I have, so that I can learn to taste and distinguish via contrast the sweet from the bitter, so that my motivations and my becomings are celestial. So that I taste<\/em> the love of God.<\/p>\n

Last thought: The great and spacious building for me today changed the way I read chapter 1, about Lehi\u2019s ministry in Jerusalem (or maybe it\u2019s the other way round\u2014remembering Chapter 1 changed my reading of this vision). Given a vision, called as a prophet, I think Lehi had a choice\u2014and maybe they were even both fine with the Lord. What would he do? I think he could\u2019ve been popular, could\u2019ve relayed a message that might even have been a good message, but done it in order to win the acclaim of the people. But he didn\u2019t. He chose to eat the fruit, and chose his family over the comforts of the great and spacious building of Jerusalem. He chose to travel to a promised land and hailed his family to come with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why didn\u2019t Lehi and his family ever see or need the rod of iron or the path when they journeyed to the tree? And by contrast, why did so many of those who sought after and obtained the path & rod, then fall away? Reading closely, it is only those who relied on the rod to get through the mists of darkness that are specifically noted to have fallen away (of course, at least some of those who failed to use the rod were lost\u2014a bit of a catch 22). And how could folks fall away simply because of the glitterazzi who were mocking them? They\u2019d partaken of the blasted fruit already! Of course I don\u2019t know. But here\u2019s a few thoughts. Lehi & family\u2019s conversion seems much more secure. They had to make use of the Spirit, or of their own pure striving, and they were motivated by family and by the tree & its fruit. I\u2019m not sure what the motivations or social support systems of the others were\u2014Lehi and Nephi don\u2019t point that out\u2014but the existence of a straight path and a rod of iron in the midst of a dark and dreary (empty space!) world seems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34485,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34484\/revisions\/34485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}