Last updated on November 11th, 2024 at 06:29 am
November 3, 2024
Here is the best thing I heard (What?), saw (Eye.), and read (Read.) this week, as well as the best idea (💡) I developed.
What?
“Five Loaves and Two Fishes“, Dallas Jenkins, October 29, 2024, BYU Forum:
- Dallas Jenkins is an American filmmaker and producer, best known for creating and producing the critically acclaimed TV series The Chosen.
- “I’m very confused at this point. I go into the kitchen, and I’m wallowing in my sorrow, and my wife comes in, and she says: ‘I don’t know why, but I know that God is putting it on my heart almost as clear as it’s an audible voice: ‘Read the story of the feeding of the 5,000, and I do impossible math.’ I don’t know what that means. I don’t know why He’s saying that, but I just know that I know that I know.’ …
“I wasn’t going to be able to solve this and figure this out on my own. Now, I still didn’t know what impossible math meant in this case, because success wasn’t on the horizon. But in that moment, all I cared about was God’s will. So I surrendered, probably for the first time in my life. I broke down … and I got to a place where I was truly okay with whatever God wanted for me. …
“I implore you, starting now, don’t wait until you’re in your forties for God to break you down and bring you to your knees and surrender. Starting now, get to this place, this superpower actually, that comes from giving that up to God. It is not your job to feed the 5,000, it is only to provide the loaves and fish. I love you. And I hope that you can learn that earlier than I did.”
Eye.
‘Miracle’ Hail Mary gives Commanders last-minute 18-15 win over Bears (YouTube):
- [Tyrique Stevenson]: “To Chicago and teammates my apologies for lack of awareness and focus… The game ain’t over until zeros hit the clock. … You can’t take anything for granted. Notes taken, improvement will happen – a good, but painful, lesson.”
Read.
“What We’ve Been Getting Wrong About the 3 Nephites” – Cameron Staley – February 1, 2017, LDS Living article:
- “How many times did the Book of Mormon refer to the three disciples as Nephites? The answer: zero. In fact, the three disciples are never referred to as Nephites anywhere in the Book of Mormon.
“In 1981, Elder Bruce McConkie undertook the enormous task of writing the chapter headings in all the standard works. The chapter summaries we enjoy today were not part of the original translation of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith in 1830. Elder McConkie’s chapter headings have been revised a number of times over the years to improve their precision and clarity. The three disciples are referred to as Nephites in the chapter heading for 3 Nephi 28 by Elder McConkie. Is it possible that we have mistakenly labeled the three disciples as Nephites? …
“In 3 Nephi 6:14 we learn about the demographics of the Church a mere three years before Christ’s appearance in the Americas: ‘And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord’.
“Shortly before the Savior’s appearance, the prophet Nephi performs incredible miracles, including raising his brother from the dead, leading to the conversion of ‘many’ in the land (3 Nephi 7:26). The ‘firm, and steadfast, and immovable’ Lamanites would have served as the backbone of the church, nurturing these new converts. Christ likely chose His 12 disciples from among both Lamanites and Nephites.
“The three disciples actual lineage may not be as important as recognizing how our implicit attitudes or biases influence the way we see others and even how we read scripture. Most of us equate righteousness with the Nephites and wickedness with the Lamanites. Yet all of us can think of periods in the Book of Mormon where the Lamanites were living the gospel and the Nephites were not. Assuming that a person is righteous or wicked based on a single characteristic prevents us from fully seeing others as the Savior does.”
💡
It would be amazing if BYU won the NCAA football national championship this year, 40 years after winning the national championship in 1984. The number 40 has so much significance in the Bible, and BYU’s quarterback this year (Jake Retzlaff) is a practicing Jew!