Category: Old Testament

Scrooge, Jacob, and Forgiveness: A Christmas Message

This is one of several posts I will update and repost each year at the appropriate season. This was originally a Sacrament Meeting sermon I preached. 

Christmas is a season of generosity, of new beginnings, of babies, family… and ghosts of the past who haunt our lives and our minds.  Sometimes they are of our own creating. Remembering them can help us change.
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Rough Stone Rolling: Daniel 2, The Church, and Joseph Smith

Today we focus on Daniel 2, a vision.  The story goes like this.

In King Nebuchadnezzar’s 2nd year, he has a dream. According to Daniel 1:1-2, Daniel and friends don’t get carried off until Neb’s third year, although they’re present here. Either Neb can’t remember what it was (like many of us with our dreams) or he’s being unreasonable. Either way, he demands all his wise men tell him both the dream itself, and the interpretation. When they can’t, he wants them all killed for incompetence. Daniel hears about this and offers to interpret (like Joseph in Egypt), which he does, thus saving everyone.

The content of the dream involves a statue representing various political/national entities, and a stone cut out of the mountain, which smashes them all.

Easy enough, right?
As it turns out, the books written just on Daniel 2 could fill an entire library, arguing over what exactly it’s referring to. Continue reading

Come Follow Me: Daniel 1,3,6 AND Esther 3-5, 7-8.

Obviously from the fact that the chapters I’m covering today don’t match up, I haven’t had time to revise these. 

Today we are rushing through an intro to Daniel AND Esther, and the next post is devoted solely to Daniel 2. What’s interesting is how the comparison between Daniel and Esther actually serves the manual’s purpose, which is to “help class members have the courage to live according to gospel standards.” How so?  Continue reading

Come Follow Me: Isaiah 1-6

Normally I’d begin with a link to my podcast and transcript… except it appears that while I wrote 90% of a podcast in 2010, I never recorded it. Amos was the last podcast I put up. Consider this an intro to Isaiah.

I have a confession. I’ve never really cared much for Isaiah. Continue reading