Before I even begin reading this one, I've gotta say that 2nd Nephi 2 is one of the power-doctrine chapters.  I'll be surprised if I can get through reading this today. Verse 2 contains an interesting phrase:  Consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.  This brings to mind quite a few cross-references, but can you imagine how much...

Sitting here pondering what to write. I could write about a synopsis of 1st Nephi, which I finished last night, or I could just dive into 2nd Nephi.  I think I'll do the latter. Verse 6 could be quite the controversial verse, for people who didn't like the Spanish conquest, or Christopher Colombus.  Yet, the verse still is what the ...

I'm kind of distracted now due to external crud, but one of the verses jumped out at me.  Verses 7 and 8... I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the Spanish conquest, as it came to the Americas.  I have combating feelings toward the whole history of what happened. The "Indians" found here in America were the posterity...

I think that most of this chapter is talking about the gathering of the tribes of Israel, although I could be completely and totally offbase.  This is one of the chapters which I probably wouldn't write about had I not made a resolution to write about each and every chapter from the Book of Mormon. Pretty difficult to understand right now. ...

I've often wondered why Nephi included the portions of scripture containing the writings of Isaiah. I remember one time during my mission when I was reading the stuff in 2nd Nephi and it actually made sense, but I didn't write any of it down, so.... it still makes no sense to me. Only one verse out of this chapter gave me any inspiration at all...

A few minutes ago, I visited my favorite weather-forecasting website and I saw something I thought I should document, just because it doesn't happen very often.  I saw a 7-day forcast that looked like this: I think it may snow tonight! :) Anyway... My mustang isn't liking life very much right now.  It's so freakin' dirty.  ...

Ya know, I love verse 6, and verses like it (2nd Nephi 4, for example).  The reason is quite simple. Sometimes it's hard to remember that prophets are people, too.  They're just subject to Satan's temptations and mistakes and errors and such as we are.  Verses like this remind me that they aren't perfect, and it brings them down to...

I don't think that ever you will find any words of righteousness associated with Laman and Lemuel, not once, but twice, within 4 verses more than in this chapter alone. Not sure why that stood out at me this time, but once in verse 1 and again in verse 4, Nephi said that Laman and Lemuel were on good behavior.  I thought I'd take time to suc...

I find it so interesting that Nephi, in all cases I can think of, when stating how hard things can get, always follows it up with how blessed they are.  I believe Nephi was how I would like to, and am trying to be like.  He recognizes things are bad, yet always finishes on an optimistic note.  Personally, I beleve grounded optimism c...

I just got up from a nap I was taking due to my going to bed at 4:00am this morning and the first words my wife told me after coming up stairs was "President Hinckley died a few hours ago." I'm not one to get upset at death.  For some reason, I've never had a problem with people dying.  The one thought which makes this even ea...

Wow...  3rd Nephi 17.  This has been one of my top 5 all-time favorite scriptural chapters since I first read it when I was 14.  I love it. The first 6 verses, to me, envelop the love Christ has for us, and the appreciation He must feel when we show our grattitude toward Him.  There were no words uttered by his audience, yet H...

First off, today was much better than yesterday as far as basing my decisions to strengthen my family. I spent the morning with Luci, and most of the afternoon and evening with Luci and Sarah. At noon, I went in to get all the paperwork taken care of for my new job, and I must say... I'm impressed, excited and anxious all in one emotion. I'm sur...

 So...  I thought I'd be going to bed, but here I am. When the Spirit directed me to come down and write down my testimony, I wasn't (and still am not) quite sure what to write.  This certainly isn't due to a lack of testimony comparative to other times I've done this, but rather quite the exact opposite.  It is because my tes...

Verses 5 and 6 are cause for simple reinforcement that external events do not necessarily cause internal changes.  Yes, they had a horrific war which caused the death of so many husbands, fathers, sons, etc...  And yes, that caused a lot of people to become baptized.... but, that didn't seem to matter much.  The very next year, it se...

I had forgotten that in this chapter, Nephi sees the Lord descend from heaven to the people who would be born from Nephi. I put myself in his situation, and quite honestly , I have no idea how I would react.  It would be so supremely surreal - seeing your kids' kids' kids' kids, and then seeing the Savior of the world show himself unto them....

Reading the beginning of this chapter, I knew this was where the Lamanites and Nephites would enter into free commerce with one another.  When everyone is living by the same righteous standards, there is no need for distrust, or geographical boundaries, or anything else which comes from people living selfishly.  Honest living of the Gospe...

Today's not over, but while the kids are taking naps, I thought I'd see what I could do to write about this day so far. First off - I *love* Monterey.  Last night, I don't think I got a whole lot of sleep, but notwithstanding that, I still woke up in an incredibly good mood due to the crisp salty air, the perfect temperature (around 60-68 deg...

While Elder Scott was talking about the justice of the Father, I couldn't help but remember a very simple conversation I had with a childhood friend named Jared Peck. He was talking about scenarios of people hurting the ones he loved, and how he would get back at them.  I sat and made the required remarks such as, "oh", and "y...

 Holy cow.  I only have 10 more chapters to go, and I'll finish the goal I set 3 years ago, to read and write about each chapter in the Book of Mormon.  I'm not sure why, but when I just realized that (like 1 minute ago), it was kind of surreal for me.  Anyway...  Here goes. Moroni 1. Moroni had to be one of the most tr...

I just got home from Jovi's baby blessing (Brandon and Chloe's first baby) and it was a pretty cool experience. Today was a good day because I thought that it was gonna be .... not good. Yesterday night, I stayed out a bit too late, and thus didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night.  In fact, on my way home, my good friend Steve bought me ...

 Not much to write about on this chapter...  Lots of backbiting, hatred, slaying of kin, destruction of entire civilizations due to war, living in righteousness and prospering because of it.  Poisonous serpents, famine, more death, repentance, and just the general way the people live within the pride cycle. Not a bad chapter, but n...

 Ya know..  I think the whole "sight" thing is over-rated.  "Dispute not because ye see not" just shouldn't be an issue.  Prime example is Laman and Lemuel.  They saw angels, and it didn't do jack-squat.  Personally, I believe the sense of the Spirit (as opposed to the sense of sight, or hearing, or...

Yup... You heard it right.  You can now add images to your journal entries at I Love My Journal.  Here's how: Simply click on the "write" button when you first come to the site. Then you log in, if you haven't already, by providing your username and password. After a successful login, you'll be presented with the following ...

Reading through Alma 60 and 61, I can vividly imagine what it would be like to live in times like those.  I imagine the cry for freedom being heard through the streets, as neighbors and friends decide to take up arms in defense of our right to worship how we want, and for the protection of our families, traditions, and way of life.  Putti...

I feel very connected with this talk.  He speaks of the importance of remembering those special experiences we have with the Spirit which enrich our testimonies.  Some of the quotes I love from this talk are as follows: Our personal journey through life provides us with many special experiences that become building blocks of faith and t...

I just got done watching, listening, and reading the last talk of the morning conference session of Sunday this year, and President Monson is indeed our prophet. Nothing in particular spoke anything specific to me.... Well... That's not true.  The following paragraph hit home a bit, "Mortality is a period of testing, a time to prove o...

And in a sense, that's true! Yes, folks... Another addition to the illustrious Jones family has arrived here on earth just in time to watch his dad go a little more insane. If we were talking about anything other than the bunch of lunatics running around this house, that might just seem a little alarming, but we're not. So it isn't. :) Act...

Setting your heart upon the glory of the world has always seemed like a bad idea to me, but then again, for most of my life I've been kind of the odd-man-out.  heh..  My own siblings have mentioned to me that they "don't get me".  Most people would consider this a bad thing, but for me, it's been life.  The desire to &...

Ya know...  I sure would like to know what the politics of the time were back then.  Helaman's guard was able to single-handedly save the newly-appointed chief judge, by disguise, intellect, and ultimately a firm blade straight through the heart.  Yet, the account says nothing of telling anyone what was happening during the incident....

Hmm....  Another war started by another group of dissenters.  Man alive...  Seems like the story is all the same.  People who want to rule another nation end up being sparked and fed by dissenters of the nation they want to rule (think of Amalickiah)...  *sigh* The latter half of this chapter is a great reminder of what h...