Elder Holland on Justification If there is one lament I cannot abide—and I hear it from adults as well as students—it is the poor, pitiful, withered cry, “Well, that’s just the way I am.” If you want to talk about discouragement, that phrase is one that discourages me. Though notContinue Reading

Mosiah 1-6 mentions several features of the Feast of Tabernacles: the pilgrimage of entire families to the temple, the dwelling of the people in booths or tents, as well as the offering of sacrifices. According to Stephen Ricks, the correlation of King Benjamin’s speech to the elements in the FeastContinue Reading

The Feast of Tabernacles Overview of the Ancient Temple Drama The ancient temple drama was an experience that helped groups of Israelites to experience what it was like for prophets to be called of God to do his work. The presentation of the prophet before the heavenly council was somethingContinue Reading

At the very beginning of the Book of Mormon record, Nephi gives his readers the hint that he is going to speak in terms that those that understand the first Israelite temple drama would understand. Nephi writes: I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhatContinue Reading

1 Nephi 8-11 Coming into the presence of God in his temple There are multiple ways to read the story of the Tree of Life. Certainly this story is first and foremost about God’s love and invitation for all men to come into his presence through the Atonement of hisContinue Reading

Revelation, or the Apocalypse Ἀποκάλυψις  Martin Luther on the Book of Revelation The book of Revelation almost didn’t make it into the Christian bible! It certainly had things in it that did not make sense to Christians in the centuries after the death of the apostles! For example, the reformerContinue Reading

The apostle John describes a massive perfect cube coming out of heaven, joining earth. There is only one cube I know of from the Bible, and that is the Holy of Holies (Vulgate, “Sanctum Sanctorum”; Hebrew “Ḳodesh ha-Ḳodashim,” or, more fully, “Bet Ḳodesh ha-Ḳodashim”) as described in the Old Testament.Continue Reading

Mark 1:42-45; Mark 3:12; Mark 7:36; Matthew 9:30-31; Luke 8:56 In Mark 1:42-45 Jesus tells the man healed of his leprosy to not tell anyone that He has healed him, only to “shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimonyContinue Reading