In the Beginning...

I have had a testimony of Jesus Christ from a very early age.  I am grateful for the faith and teachings of my forbears who, throughout their passage through my life, sought to lead me onto the straight and narrow path to salvation through Christ the Lord.

I have a family with all of the joy and drama that comes with the experience.  I am mindful that this earth is our temporary home and that every single thing we behold in this experience... is temporary.  It would seem otherwise as we are so familiar with the temporal world and the challenges of the flesh. Therein lies the challenge.  We have forgotten from whence we came and must reacquaint ourselves with our spiritual natures and the source of the light of Christ in us which is often referred to as conscience.

This blog name is derived from 3 Nephi 12:8,

"And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  

Compare also Matthew 5:8.  This passage has stood out more for me in the last few years than it has in the past, nestled, possibly even buried in the teachings of the Beatitudes, yet, it stands out like a lightning bolt when one considers what it means to see God.

There is a striking pattern in The Book of Mormon that illustrates it being an invitation to see God and from the very beginning it is manifest in such plain clarity, that it is astonishing that it is missed as such a plain and precious truth.

In the beginning of the volume as we have it, a lifelong inhabitant of Jerusalem encounters prophets, calling their fellows to repent and turn to God, or the great city Jerusalem will be destroyed.  It occurs to me that Lehi must have been somewhat devout in that the message of the prophets had some effect on him, but that would not be all.  The prophets can sometimes have an effect on someone who is far afield.  That's one reason prophets are called.  However, this conclusion is arrived at because of the reverence Nephi expresses for his father.  One must suppose that the nurture and admonition of the Lord was not unfamiliar in the home of this family.

What makes this more interesting however, is that there came many prophets in an environment where there was already a long established religious order, even regular temple worship.  From whence, then, came these many prophets?  Were they among those called to minister at the time?  Well, maybe... Nephi in his recollection clarifies this indirectly.  His father, Lehi, on hearing the words of the prophets, "prayed unto the Lord... in behalf of his people," (1 Nephi 1:5) which prayer is followed be a remarkable theophany - more on that later.  The result of this experience, is that Lehi, unable to restrain his gratitude for the Lord's mercy to him and his witness from God does what?  He joins the prophets, warning the people of Jerusalem to repent.  There is no indication from Nephi that his father was of the priestly class.  So, who were these prophets?  How did the leaders of the people miss getting this message out which God now felt necessary to send other warning voices?  What was the condition of the people at the time?  It is certainly conceivable that the message of these prophets was no more welcome than what Lehi shared, as he was ridiculed and soon found his life in danger.

And it came to pass that the Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of them; for he truly testified of their wickedness and their abominations and he testifed that the things which he saw and heard, and also the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world.

And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. 

1 Nephi 1:19-20 [emphasis added]

Lehi heard the words of the prophets, prayed about their message and received a direct answer to his prayer from God.  He saw the Lord who spoke to him and showed him many things thereafter.  Subsequently, Nephi heard the words of a prophet, his father, prayed about the message and received a direct answer to his prayer from God.

Is this pattern applicable to us - even today?  This is my query.  What say ye?