We Made It to the Great Valley!

Guys! We arrived in the promised land! I can’t believe it! Look at this place!

We’re calling it Bountiful. Isn’t it awesome? To really understand the beauty of this promised land, you gotta consider what we’ve been traveling through for the last 8 years:

Artist's rendition

And then after 8 years of that, we come to this!

It’s been four years since my last post, and honestly, I really was starting to wonder if we were going anywhere worth going. A promised land of sand isn’t much of a promise. (Side note: I don't like sand. It's course and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.) But this place is great. It’s got fruit and honey. Plenty of game to hunt; we can fish in the waters.
Eight years ago I decided to act in faith and accept Dad as a prophet, and finally that decision has been confirmed. He knew what he was doing after all.

There’s also lots of lumber here, so I plan to start working on a house for my family. And we’ll need it. The sandflies are bad here. Who can blame them though? It’s the only place for miles worth inhabiting. If I was a sandfly, this is where I’d live. I guess I better finish up this post. I have a ton to do. I’ve never built a house before. No idea what I’m doing. Maybe Dad knows. Nephi’s good at this stuff, I’m sure he can help me too. Anyway, I’ll keep you guys updated. This place is so awesome. Take it away, Diana Ross!

 🎶If we hold oooonnnn together, ♪ I know our dreaaaams will neeeever diieeee.... 🎵

Button Pushing

Just finished up another chat with Nephi, "the diplomat." I really need to stop letting him push my buttons. So Laman, Sam, and I were talking about Dad’s dream and the stuff he taught us about the olive tree. I explained my whole take from my last post—basically the confusion here comes from Dad interpreting certain scriptures as temporal when they’re clearly spiritual, otherwise God would have to be a liar.

Laman was in a pretty good mood (for once) and decided we should try to give Dad the benefit of the doubt. Basically we could try interpreting the scriptures temporally in a way that didn't lead to inconsistencies. Sam chimed in and point out that’s probably a good idea; he’d always felt like Zenos’ parable didn’t work with a purely spiritual interpreation. When I asked what he meant, he said something like, “Well, look at the section on the wild branches being grafted in. What could that possibly mean as an analogy to our spiritual lives?” Which is a good point.

So we were chatting about it for awhile. Dad had mentioned the Gentiles in connection with the wild branches, and we were trying to figure that out when Nephi showed up. He asked us what we were talking about, and we told him.

Nephi: Have you asked God your questions?

Me: Uhhh, not really. If God was here, I’d ask Him. But since he's not here to talk with, we’re doing our best to figure it out.

Nephi: Why don’t you do what God commands? Why would you die because of the hardness of your hearts??

Me: Wooahh, Nephi? We’re trying to understand these things—

Nephi: Don’t you remember what the Lord said? If you don’t harden you hearts, and ask in faith believing that you will receive, while diligently obeying God’s commands, He’s going to answer you.

So timeout from the script for a second for me to just add a quick note. Nephi and Dad hit on this “ask God to receive information” theme quite a bit. But I’m not sure what to do with it. I pray regularly, and I ask questions, and sometimes I feel the Spirit, but answering questions about stuff like the wild branches of the tree and the Gentiles would require God to communicate with me in ways capable of conveying more complex information—full sentences, paragraphs, concepts, etc. I’ve never experienced anything close to that, even when I ask. So what am I supposed to do? Anyway...

Nephi went on to explain his view on things. Basically that the olive tree was the house of Israel. Our family is a broken off branch of that tree. The wild branches are the Gentiles, and in the future, the Gentiles will get the fulness of the gospel and bring it to our descendants who will have lost the gospel by that point. Then our descendants will be grafted back into the original tree, or in other words rejoin the house of Israel. And these things apply not just to our “branch” but all of the house of Israel.

We then asked him about his take on a few of the symbols in Dad’s dream. He basically said the tree was the tree of life, the rod was the word of God, the river was hell, and it separated the wicked from the righteous. And then something about judgment.

Me: Interesting theory...

Laman: Yeah, it seems consistent, but I’m not sure if it’s actually correct.

Nephi: Well, you ought to ask God then, and He’ll tell you.

Me: You keep saying that, but I don’t know if you understand how hard it is for us to do what you’re saying. We’re trying our best here to understand this stuff, but you keep railing on us because we aren’t full-on prophets who receive paragraphs of quotes directly from God. You gotta be a bit more understanding of people, otherwise you’ll be the only one of us who doesn’t end up marrying one of Ishmael’s daughters. Most women (and people in general) would prefer to live and die alone as opposed to living with someone who is always bearing down so hard on them for not becoming their own personal Moses.

Nephi: The things I’m saying are only hard on the wicked—

Laman: —See! There it is again!

Nephi: Righteous people love the message I share because it brings salvation. It testifies that they’ll be lifted up at the last day. The wicked on the other hand always take the truth in a negative light. It cuts them deep. And if you guys were righteous, you wouldn’t be complaining about what I’m saying.

Laman [sarcastically]: Righteous like you??!

Nephi: Laman! It’s not about me! This is about you and the Lord! The Lord has offered you guys salvation! He wants to have a real relationship with you. He wants to talk with you, not just hear you offer up vain prayers to Him. He wants to answer you, teach you, show you, lead you. And I promise you that he will. I’m not a perfect person. I have so many failings I don’t know where to begin. But God is merciful enough to reach down to me and lift me up, and He’ll do the same for you guys. You need to get over me. I’m not important. God is. Please do what He asks. Turn to Him. Come to Him.

Me: You gotta decent point here. I guess sometimes we let you push our buttons, because to be honest, you often come off as a bit…—

Laman: —Self-righteous.

Me: I was trying to think of a nicer way to put that, but yeah, self-righteous.

Nephi: Look, guys, I know I have a tendency to get excited about this stuff, and speak very directly. It’s because this stuff is actually exciting, and the implications are very direct. I wish I could tell you everything I know, but know this: the Lord is leading our family, and if we obey Him, He will bless us.

Laman: Fair enough. I’ll try to do a better job of praying about things when I have questions.

Me: Same here.

Sam: I’ve been doing that all along, but you guys don’t listen to me.

Me [winkingly]: Shut up, Sam!

Sam: You guys are funny. I don’t know what’s going on with Nephi, but as I pray about these things, God has answered my prayers too. Not in ways that allow me to spell out all the symbolism in Dad’s dreams and the scriptures like Nephi can, but in ways that are important for the questions I’m asking.

Sam’s a good guy. He’s been hanging out with Orpah a lot lately. I’m thinking those two will make a pretty good couple. Anyway, back to the discussion. Like I said, I really need to stop letting Nephi push my buttons. I think he has a good heart, he’s just not the most compassionate in the way he talks. I’m gonna try to do better.

Spiritual or Temporal

I don’t know what just happened. If you read my last post, you know I was planning on talking to Dad about my concerns that he’s abandoned God and His people. After recounting to him the covenants that God established with our people, he didn’t seem to really get what I was talking about. I’ll give you his response to the covenants, and the rest of the conversation as best as I can recall.

Dad: Lemuel, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, and after -

Me: How can you say that? Didn’t you understand the covenants I just read?

Dad: I’ve seen it, and the prophets foretold it.

Me: No, Jeremiah has foretold it. I know you think he’s a prophet, but why would the Lord call one of the random priests as the prophet to give direction to the high priest and to the people as a whole. It would create only confusion. God works through the leaders he’s chosen. David's last words confirmed that God's house is a house of order.

Dad: Not just Jeremiah, Isaiah has also prophesied that Jerusalem will be destroyed.

Me: Dad, I think you have a tendency to interpret spiritual things as temporal. The prophets love Isaiah the same as you do, but they see his true message—a spiritual message. You, me, Nephi…Israel represents everyone of us. Israel is God’s covenant people, and you and I are possessors of that same covenant. Isaiah is using Jerusalem to talk about what happens when any of us fall away from Jehovah. When that happens, we fall, and our righteousness is scattered. But Jehovah is merciful and provides the Day of Atonement where our righteousness is gathered back in, and we reconcile to God. This is what the prophets teach about Isaiah!

Dad: Oh Lemuel. You don’t see it do you? I’m glad you are likening the scriptures unto yourself, but you need to realize that Isaiah’s prophecies refer not just to things spiritual, but also things temporal. Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, and many Jews will be hauled off to Babylon. Eventually they’ll come back to Jerusalem, and 600 years after our family left the city, the Messiah will be born among the Jews. This Messiah is the Savior and Redeemer of the world, and He is the one who will provide the real atonement you spoke of. This atonement is what will save the whole world from its fallen state.

Dad: He will be preceded by a messenger who will cry from the wilderness saying “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for there standeth one among you whom ye know not; and he is lighter than I, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.” This messenger will perform mikveh for the Messiah, and bear testimony that the Messiah is the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world through His atonement.

Dad: But the Jews will reject and kill the Messiah. And after they do so, he will rise from the dead, and He will begin a ministry to the Gentiles through the Holy Ghost. If you want to really understand what’s going on with our people and our family, “the Lord's people,” I suggest you study Zenos. Just as the branches of the old, corrupt tree needed to be broken off and scattered, so our Lord has broken off our family from the corrupt tree, and is sending us to a promised land. And after all Israel is scattered, then the wild branches (the Gentiles) have a shot at the gospel. Then after the Gentiles receive the fullness of the Gospel, then Israel will be gathered again and come to know the Messiah.

After that, we discussed a few of Isaiah’s prophecies, and I guess I can see where Dad is getting tripped up now. With Zenos, Isaiah, and the others, he and I just disagree on whether the message is spiritual or temporal. I stand with the prophets who teach that the message is spiritual; it’s an analogy to talk about the fall and redemption of the soul. Dad rejects the prophet’s teachings and thinks that Isaiah and Zenos are speaking of temporal things.

I’ll be honest, I’m still not persuaded by Dad’s take on it though. The more I think about it, the more it seems like his interpretation creates too many paradoxes in God’s word. He says we’ll possess the gates of our enemies, and that they’ll flee from before us. So how then can Isaiah’s words about our destruction be interpreted literally??? I think the prophets are right on this one, but I still don’t know how to help Dad understand my point. Again, if you guys have any ideas of things on how to resolve this, please share in the comments below. I think I’ll go talk to Laman and see if he has any ideas. I’d like to include Nephi in our discussion, but I saw him heading out of camp somewhere, so maybe when he gets back.