Come Follow Me with Sam

 The story of the fall and after the fall are tied together. I mentioned Adam and Eve's sacrifice in the last post. In this post, I would like to focus on Cain, and the preaching. Cain is not a story thrown in for historic relevance. It is a microcosm of the battle in every human soul and over the whole earth. God said that the creation was good. Cain judged the creation as unfit and killed his brother able because his sacrifice was not accepted. We all fall short of our goals in one way or another. Cain is a reminder that if we give seed to the bitterness of soul, it ends in death, misery, and outer darkness. We don't want to go there. It also outlines the plan of the evil one which centers around turning lives into money and souls into property. Once the opposition was loosed on the earth, God sent prophets and ministers and the great plan came into full swing.

 We discussed last week about how the worldly view of biblical stories is to look at them for more of explanatory power, while God wants to use this to purify and refine our souls. The Story of Adam and Eve is the story of the sacrifice our first parents made to follow God, and of the peculiar joy of the saints. It is another story that is intrinsic to the plan of God, not a simply functional facilitation of reaching a desired state.

We (humanity) tend to look to bible stories for their explicatory power. How was he earth created? by the creation. How did man come to be? by Adam and Eve. Where did rainbows come from? The flood (Okay, I don't know anyone who uses this story primarily for the rainbow phenomenon, but you get the point. The rainbows are not the point.) God teaches these stories less for answering curiosities and more for the fulfillment of our spiritual destiny. The creation is taught to us to understand the Atonement and the works and mind of God. It is an integral part of the plan of salvation, not simply a facilitation of functional necessities of the plan. Here are a few quick points. There are many more to understand.  - The elements worshiip and obey god as he speaks. There is no difference from his words and reality - We are part of the creation. The elements rejoice in being part of the creation and being part of us, and we (our souls) rejoiced to share the creation with them. - The creatio...

Welcome to the Old Testament and a new year! The Old Testament is very challenging! I plan to write what I learn and see where we get. I also will rely on the Louis Segonde translation (french) as a second reference to understand certain passages better, Hugh Nibley's works to walk through Abraham particularly, and Jordan Peterson's lectures as we walk through Genesis. I may be able to pick up some other references as we go along. Keep in mind that thousands of scholars have studied this book for thousands of years so there is no way to be comprehensive, and there will probably be interesting takes contrary to what I find here. We are just going to go for it, and I invite any and all discussion you have. contrary to the D&C format, we are going back to subjects instead of sections or chapters as our headings As you Study this week's chapters, take some time to think about the manner of men Moses and Abraham were and their relationship with god. Think about this scriptur...