Seven of Everything

I was recently made aware of these two videos about a potential location for the river Lehi named Laman and the valley he named Lemuel. I like these videos. I like the suggested location for the valley of Lemuel, but I have issue with this concept: In the first video he states, 1:40, "we know that Lehi fled Jerusalem and traveled south to the borders of the Red Sea; and then from this point traveled 3 days further south to the valley of Lemuel." Then he states, 5:30, "the distance between here and here, was about a 2 weeks journey, about 250 miles." Then again, 6:18, "after they came to the borders of the Red Sea, the text says that they traveled three more days south until they came to a place... that Lehi called Lemuel." Both videos suggest the same concept that after traveling to the borders of the Red Sea the family further traveled three days into the wilderness. In the Book of Mormon it says, "He taketh three days’ journey into the...

As mentioned in a previous blog post, there is a phrase in the scriptures, "it had been better for them never to have been born." ( D&C 76:32 ) As stated in this scripture, this phrase specifically identifies sons of perdition, "the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power." ( D&C 76:37 ) If something only applies to sons of perdition, then the opposite applies to the kingdom of God, aka all kingdoms of glory. In 3 Nephi 28:34-35 , it refers to those sons of perdition with these words: "And wo be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he hath chosen and sent among them; for whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him; and therefore he will not receive them at the last day; and it would be better for them if they had not been born." The opposite of this could be stated, 'blessed be he that will hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also ...

Abraham 2:11 "...in thy [Abraham's] seed after thee ... shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal." Doctrine and Covenants 88:4 "This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom;" The word 'even' in these two verses could be used and interpreted in two different ways. This allows for four different ways of interpreting the relationship between salvation, eternal life, and the glory of the celestial kingdom. I will show all four and then explain which one is supported by scripture. The first could be interpreted two ways when it says, "the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal." It could be interpreted to mean, (1) life eternal is equal to salvation. So this can be written equally to say, 'all the families of the earth will be blessed with the blessings of salvatio...

Is baptism required for the telestial kingdom? While the scriptures are not direct in answering the question above, they are clear about the answer to the three questions below. Is baptism required for salvation? Is there only one way to be saved? Are those who receive telestial glory saved? If the answer is yes to all three questions above then it is yes to the first.

In our most recent General Conference (Apr 2019) President Oaks stated, When we repent, we have the Lord’s assurance that our sins, including our acts and desires, will be cleansed and our merciful final judge will "remember them no more." Cleansed by repentance, we can qualify for eternal life, which King Benjamin described as "dwell[ing] with God in a state of never-ending happiness." I have recently been reviewing all 100 references to eternal life in the scriptures and, interestingly, this is not one of them. I looked to see if there was a connection. This quote is near the beginning of King Benjamin's sermon. The only time he says the phrase 'eternal life' is at the very end of his sermon. So I decided to see if there was a semi-direct way to connect these scriptures that President Oaks suggests are connected (Mosiah 2:41 and Mosiah 5:15). Mosiah 2:41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of thos...

Jesus asked His disciples, "whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." ( Matt 16:13-19 ) There are three things here that can all be called the rock: 1 Jesus Christ - He is referred to as the rock many times and it is Him and His divinity about whom the question was asked and the conversation was based. 2 Revelation - It was revelation that Jesus emphasized as the means that brought about this knowledge. This teaches of th...

The New Testament has very little direct reference to understanding the organization of the Kingdom of God the way that it has since been revealed to Joseph Smith. But now that we know more about how the Kingdom of God is organized, we can look back and understand more clearly what was meant by Jesus. Matthew 13 has seven parables that are both instructive as individual parables and, in their proper order, relating to the future of when the parables were given. Here I will only focus on the first parable and how it refers to the Kingdom of God in connection with what has been revealed to Joseph Smith regarding our understanding of the kingdoms within the Kingdom. We know that the parable of the sower has a direct reference to the Kingdom of God because Jesus states that this is the purpose of telling parables in Matthew 13:10-11 . The sower is a parable, which means it has hidden meanings that may not be apparent initially. From Joseph Smith we learn that after the resurrection, w...