Tuesday, August 17, 2010

2 Nephi 30: 6

 
"And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people."

Once the remnant is in possession of the Gospel, they will "rejoice." What does that mean? What form would "rejoicing" take as a result of receiving the Gospel?

What does it mean to "know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God?" How would they recognize that?

What are the "scales of darkness" which cover eyes? How would the scales have been over their eyes in the first place? What does it mean to have the scales "begin to fall from their eyes?" Does "begin to fall" mean something about a gradual process, rather than a single quick event? How do scales continue to remain in place, even as they "begin to fall?" What does that imply about the difficulty in overcoming errors because of false understanding or traditions? Even the remnant will struggle to fully remove the "scales of darkness."

Why are there "not many generations" involved in this process? Do you need "generations" to pass away in order to fully remove darkness?

Why is it not possible to accomplish this in a single generation?

If the Lord's purposes in redeeming the remnant will take "not many generations" then why do we think we can accomplish it in one? How gradual a process is involved?

What does it mean to become a "pure and delightsome people?" (For many editions of the Book of Mormon, this phrase used to be, "white and delightsome." It was changed back to the original, "pure" rather than "white" in the 1980 edition.)
 
Why does purity and being "delightsome" to the Lord go together?

If this process is going to involve "not many generations" then how far away are we from this unfolding?

When we read prophecy like this, we should realize we are looking at unfolding history from the Lord's perspective.  We want to know what will happen in our single lifetime. We are impatient. He is interested in having us know the truth.

Nephi's prophecy gives us a perspective that helps put our own time into context. We are in a hurry. History is not. There is a great deal left to do. There is a great deal left to happen. Nephi is letting us see this lengthy agenda.

7 comments:

  1. I feel as though my scales of darkness have begun to fall from my eyes.

    And it causes me to rejoice!

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  2. 2 Peter 1:6 "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity."

    D&C 4:6 "Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence."

    The list in D&C switches the order of godliness and brotherly kindness from Peter's list. Not sure if that is significant. A switch could mean that order doesn't matter, or that one of the two lists has it wrong on purpose, or by translation mistake. That would seem to suggest Peter's list is reversed. Yet, D&C 107:30 has it just like Peter's:

    "The decisions of these quorums, or either of them, are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and lowliness of heart, meekness and long suffering, and in faith, and virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity;"

    Peter's list spells out adding one thing to another, as if in a progression.

    I put this list here because patience was mentioned by Denver above. Perhaps these verses have something to do with receiving patience, yet nothing is said about how to add one attribute to another.

    The first four verses of 2 Peter do give some context. A careful study of that may be useful. Particularly: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature,"

    If we assume the divine nature is what Peter lists thereafter, attribute by attribute (some consideration would have to be taken for what he means by "beside this"...a Greek lexicon might be helpful, because it could make the difference of equivalency to divine nature, or something in addition to divine nature with his list), but if we assume the list is equivalent to the divine nature, then he claims that it is by certain great and precious promises that we partake (receive) of those attributes.

    Where are those promises? Do they match up essentially one by one with the list? Could true hope in the realization of a promise be sufficient enough to cause someone to partake of a certain attribute? Would it change their hearts? That could make faith, hope, and charity in the preceding verse in D&C 4 a type of chiasm, with the formula being, hope is the key that allows you to progress from faith all the way through the list to charity.

    But back to the promises...where else do we have a list of promises that seems to be almost or exactly as long?

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  3. Might the scales falling from the eyes mean the scales of judgement through which we the "chosen people" incorrectly see/filter the world begin to fall away as we cast out the beam? As we remove our judgement and apply the measure only to ourselves?

    Strategicreader

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  4. Strategicreader, I LOVE the tie of the scales of judgment to the scales of darkness. That's brilliant.

    A cross reference for delightsome could define it as the absence of abominations and whoredoms...

    Jacob 2: 28
    28 For I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts.

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  5. Shannon,
    It felt like light when it came to me. I take no credit.
    I like the chastity of women comment. Your comment caused me to think of the Childeren of Christ delivered(yes like pregnancy) from the shaking and convulsions or labor pains of the chaste or chastened bride. It is interesting to look at delivery (deliver)and when and how the just and the unjust are delivered...from which conditions and circumstances are each type delivered, and to/into what new conditions and circumstances the delivery results.
    Strategicreader

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  6. Strategicreader:

    If you're up for it, can you elaborate even more? I'd like to hear what you have to say on the conditions/circumstances. I appreciate Shannon and your insights. Thanks!

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  7. Kim:
    I don't have much to say about it other than I see a number of places where delivery is mentioned and that there are pretty good descriptions given (many of the descriptions are spot on likenesses of us). We are delivered to or from death and hell, the awful chains, the buffetings of Satan, delivered from (not in) our sin, delivered into others hands like Laban or the men who raise the arm of flesh at the waters of Sebus and several armies mentioned, delivered from the Egyptians. The list goes on and on. The list is about people being freed from oppression and falsehood...from governments, but also from Satanic influence and false tradition (false tradition is also captivity). The example is of a people...but consider thinking about the story (His-story) as my/our own story of repentance and LITERAL rebirth as a Son or Daughter of Christ. Each deliverance in the positive light illustrates God's infallible hand and the foolishness of man.
    Before the delivery in most cases there is a period of difficult trial associated with stupid behavior, and the truly repentant are delivered (often literally born as new creatures capable of communion with the divine). No repentance = no delivery (or delivery to something unsavory).
    We are asked again and again to remember the captivity of our fathers (false tradition or slavery) and to keep that memory bright......anyway...I don't know much, only that we/I MUST REPENT and be baptized, recieve the Holy Ghost, do what He tells you and come/go to the Lord.

    I also know that I am enjoying reading this blog and the comments. Thanks be to God.

    Strategicreader

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