I'm not entirely sure where to even begin with this chapter.  So many good stories are found in this one, which can easily be likened to our own lives and our own times.  Various lessons come to mind.... For example, verses 1 through 3 are a magnificent litmus test of personal righteousness.  When someone comes at you and truthfull...

Ya know... Chatting with good friends has its benefits.  Just like think-tanks and collegeate consortiums are good for concerted cognation, a good conversation with a concerned cohort can be just as contenting. I think I've mentioned this before in my journal, but in talking with a good friend of mine, I hadn't made the connection with just...

After reading this chapter for no more than 30 seconds, I simply must type. I love verse 3. Many, many times have I been in a doctrinal discussion with someone and the other person just can't "get" what a scripture or principle means.  Verse 3 could explain why that happens to us. Some things we just can't understand without th...

When I sit and think about what I just read, the 14th chapter of 1st Nephi is pretty crazy. Just a few points... The majority of the chapter is all about the "mother of abominations" and the "whore of all the earth". I believe it's written here to clarify the impact this (these) church(es) has (have) had upon the plain and...

No, seriously, people...  Microsoft really does care....  loads and loads of caring! They care so much ABOUT MONEY it makes me sick. I just got done reading this article and I'm left with a feeling of sickening "awe" at how greedy Microsoft really is. Lately, I've been following a story about a group of people in a project...

Where do I even begin with this chapter? I remember reading it and understanding it for the first time during my mission.  It was really cool realizing that all of this stuff in this chapter is written about in history books!  It talks about Christopher Columbus discovering America, the Revolutionary War, the Bible, the coming of the Bo...

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....

As soon as the angel of God knew Nephi's purpose and desire, the first question he asked him was "Do you believe?". I think that's a fairly important question, which we should ask ourselves each day.  If we are being tempted and we ask ourselves that question, to which we already know the answer, I can promise you the tempter's pow...

First Nephi Ten... I'm not really in a spiritual mood right now, which really is unfortunate because I know this chapter has some spiritual meat to it. One thing I can write, is when I read this chapter during my mission, and even before, I always found myself focusing on Nephi's desire to see the things his father did (in verse 17). He didn'...

Two things for tonight's study: I believe the purpose of this chapter is the same as chapter 6:  To give purpose behind the Book of Mormon.  The things Nephi is writing are things of God - things pertaining to the ministry of the people in those days. I love verse 5.  It reminds me of when Adam was commanded to build an alter and...

Less than one month until I board a plane and fly to the tropical islands!! WAHOO!!  It's going to be sweet.  My nephew, Christian, just graduated from high school and to celebrate, a bunch of us are taking him to Hawaii (my mom, Paige, Christian and his parents, Robyn and Tim and myself and Tiffy).  We will be going to Maui for 2 da...

Since I recently have switched to XFCE on my work computer (all home computers are still running Gnome), I've noticed a strange behavior with window focusing.  I'm trying to decide whether this is a feature, or a bug. What happens, happens once-in-a-while and I can't get it to do the same thing consistently.  Whether it's because this i...

Well, the auction went real well! We made more then enough money for camps. Which by the way I am going to Girls camp. Their bumping me up a year so I'll be with my own age group.  At the auction I sold myself three times, each time was funny. Because the first I got up on the stand, heard the anounser say " Here is a very pretty young l...

Hmm...  I really like when prophets, like Alma, quote other prophets to make a point.  The best way to keep the doctrine pure is to look the reference up.  Otherwise, it inevitably will be diluted down.  Ain't no doctrine like pure doctrine. Interesting that the quote from Zenos in verses 4-11 is paraphrased beautifully in Alm...

I just got done lightly scanning over this article before I shook my head in disgust and decided to write this entry. Let me say this first.  I've been professionally employed in web development now for 6 years, and am by no means a genius on the subject, but I think I may have a clue or two. I have absolutely no idea why Bluefish seems to...

Ya know...  After reading this through, with the previous chapters I've read in mind, I think I'm understanding a bit more about what Abinadi is talking about. The wicked priests quote him the scripture in Isaiah which says that prophets are supposed to proclaim peace in order to basically tell Abinadi off, because he was definitely not proc...

Hmm....  I'm kind of tired right now, but I figured I needed to read some scriptures... This time around, I realize how being under the rule of a tyrant would be absolutely horrible.  In this case, Alma was under the rule of one (or more) of the Amulonites - which were his wicked peers when they were the king's priests.  Talk about...

It might be that I'm a techno-geek, but the first thing I thought of when I read this was "social media".  People went from house to house and "labored exceedingly" all through the night to let it be known where Jesus was going to come the following day. Also interesting are the activities of the people when the arrived t...

To start things off, I’ve been doing a bit of research on Christianity due to a friend I have at my place of employment. In my research I came upon the wonderful debate on whether or not members of the LDS church are “Christians”. The arguments pointed out were surprisingly well-worded and easy to understand. One of the main on...

Today was spent with my good friend, and brother, Ryan (and his family, who happens to love my family!) We spent the day moving all sorts of large items from our home into the storage space we're renting.  From the kitchen table and chairs, to the couch downstairs, to the hutches - we made two trips full of items, with our mini-van and Dad'...

 So, on last chapter's post, someone left a wonderful comment.  Thank you, whoever you are.  That is precisely why I do this. Now... Ether 4.   This chapter starts out with an interesting verse.  I guess Mosiah would have had several channels whereby he could have known he should not let the book of Ether out of the bag u...

Where do I even begin with this chapter? I remember reading it and understanding it for the first time during my mission.  It was really cool realizing that all of this stuff in this chapter is written about in history books!  It talks about Christopher Columbus discovering America, the Revolutionary War, the Bible, the coming of the Bo...

When I began reading this chapter, I was pretty anxious, internally - for unrelated reasons.  Now, having finished this chapter, I feel very calm and peaceful.  What a great story this chapter tells. While reading, I saw some curious verses, but all of those questions feel relatively meaningless right now.  The thing that matters t...

Today I had an interesting thought.  It's a question that possibly has thousands of answers, but, since I'm on a pensive streak, I thought I'd write down some of what I came up with. The thought was "How do you tell if someone cares for you?", which also spawned the thought, "How do I tell if I care for someone else?", whi...

Okay...  I know it's a little bit late, but I thought I needed to write about my B-day anyway.  It was the 14th, and evidently, the 16th, too. So, the 14th began with a great time eating lots of great food.  Pancakes for breakfast, my best friend Scott took me to my all-time favorite Thai restaurant and we got some insanely delicio...

It seems that this chapter is just a informational chapter on the goings on over a space of quite a few years.  Heh... That's pretty general, but there's really not any story-line, or analogy, or deep doctrine here... I did find it interesting how they spoke of using cement, and the sparseness of timber, and such like that.  I wonder wh...

As soon as the angel of God knew Nephi's purpose and desire, the first question he asked him was "Do you believe?". I think that's a fairly important question, which we should ask ourselves each day.  If we are being tempted and we ask ourselves that question, to which we already know the answer, I can promise you the tempter's pow...

I've just gotta say....  Man alive, I love open source.  I've also gotta pay my dues. ILMJ uses a wonderful open source editor called fckeditor.  It is simply amazing.  I haven't done much with it, but without it - this website wouldn't even be close to being usable yet. I just got done configuring the image-upload process, an...

Hmm.... I enjoyed this talk, but I'm not entirely sure what to write about it. The three aspects of gaining a burning testimony of light and truth given are completely true: Learn True Doctrine Gain Pure Testimony Live Gospel Courageously I remember something my mission president said about the first one.  He said som...

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...