2 Nephi 1:16--To Observe the Statutes and the Judgments of the Lord

And I desire that ye should remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of the Lord; behold, this hath been the anxiety of my soul from the beginning.

After Nephi teaches his brothers, their father, Lehi, speaks to them, reminding them of the great things the Lord has done for them and urging them to hearken to his words, to awake from the deep sleep of hell and shake off the chains that bind them. Lehi is old; he is about to die, and he knows it. These are some of the last words he will say to Laman and Lemuel. Twice he tells them to remember here; once in verse 12 and again in verse 16.

This is another instance of the word remember preceding an imperative verb, which I used to think was not much more than a filler that didn't change the meaning. However, as I reasoned on March 29, using the word remember shifts the burden to Laman and Lemuel to remind themselves, to become more independent and accountable for keeping the commandments without having to rely on constant reminders from the Lord and others. Here, Lehi desires that they should remember to observe the statutes and judgments of the Lord, not just that they should observe them. It is their responsibility to keep the statutes and judgments at the forefront of their minds so that all their actions are based on, and in compliance with, God's law.

In the American legal system, law is created in two ways. First, legislatures write laws, called statutes, that citizens are required to observe. Second, courts rule on cases, interpreting the statutes and creating case law. Citizens have just as much responsibility to observe the judgments of the courts as they do the statutes of the legislature. Therefore, judgments and statutes make up the law. So Lehi is telling Laman and Lemuel to remember to observe the law of the Lord, or the rules which define Godhood. If we are to become like God, we must remember (see explanation in March 29 post) to live by the same law. People are free to choose whether they will or not. It has been my experience that when I remember and choose to live by the laws the Lord has set forth, I am happier and more fulfilled. I will continue to remember to observe the statutes and the judgments of the Lord.

1 Nephi 17:45--The Lord Your God

Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.

Again, Nephi is talking to his brothers. He has been commanded to build a ship, and his Laman and Lemuel refuse to help in the work because they don't believe it's possible. It seems like Nephi is constantly teaching them.
A significant thing to notice about this verse is that remembering the Lord your God is personal. Nephi didn’t just say remember the Lord God, as in a general deity who may or may not be too busy to pay much attention to Laman and Lemuel personally. But by using the word your, Nephi automatically causes them to remember the personal experiences they’ve have with their God. He is their God because he has sent an angel to visit them. He is their God because he has spoken to them in a still small voice. He is their God because he has spoken to them in a voice of thunder when they were past feeling.

Each of us can and must remember the times God has spoken to us, whether in a still small voice or a voice of thunder. Each of us has likely also been visited by angels, whether in simply feeling the presence of one who has passed through the veil, or in receiving specific, powerful help from one on earth following the Spirit to help us, or even an actual visit from a heavenly messenger. I must remember that the Lord is my God, and I do that by remembering the specific times and ways in which he has interacted with me individually, one on one. It would be a good idea to write about each of those experiences. Most are too personal to share in a public forum such as this.

I will remember the Lord my God.

1 Nephi 15:25--To Keep His Commandments

Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them to give heed unto the word of the Lord; yea, I did exhort them with all the energies of my soul, and with all the faculty which I possessed, that they would give heed to the word of God and remember to keep his commandments always in all things.

This is the same setting as yesterday. Nephi is still teaching his brothers. Here he urges them to remember to keep God's commandments. I'm not sure the significance of the word remember in this verse. Why not just exhort them to "give heed to the word of God and keep his commandments always in all things?" If anyone in my imaginary audience has a good idea, please share it in a comment to this post. What is different about remembering to keep God's commandments and simply keeping them? Is it just a filler word that doesn't change the meaning at all? It doesn't seem like Nephi, who elsewhere has commented on the difficulty of writing on plates, would include any word that wasn't necessary to convey the meaning he intended. Then again, maybe the reformed Egyptian characters didn't translate directly word for word, and this is simply the way Joseph Smith received and conveyed the message as he translated. I really don't know.

As I try to figure it out, though, there are a couple of things that come to mind. First, the word remember gives the message a more personal feel and somehow seems to imply, or even require, a more conscious and continued effort on our part. Even though analyzed closely I don't think there's any less volition on the part of one who keeps the commandments versus one who remembers to keep them, inclusion of the word keeps the thing we're to do (in this case keep the commandments, which is essentially all-encompassing) at the forefront of our minds. The same could be said anytime the word remember is used in conjunction with an action verb, and a purely textual analysis obviates the need for it entirely in that context. For example, love your neighbor versus remember to love your neighbor; read the scriptures versus remember to read the scriptures; pray versus remember to pray; give to the poor versus remember to give to the poor; shun pornography versus remember to shun pornography. All these examples give the impression that inclusion of the word remember encourages us to be agents unto ourselves, and forgetfulness is no longer an excuse. A person can be told to give to the poor, and he will likely do it once. He then may get so busy with life that he forgets to keep giving. He can skirt responsibility by claiming he simply forgot, and the excuse is not entirely invalid. All of us forget things, and it sometimes is out of our control. Our minds are not perfect, and we feel less accountable if our excuse is that we forgot. So to eliminate that excuse, Nephi tells us we are to remember to keep the commandments. Now the responsibility is ours to remind ourselves time and again throughout our lives, and we can no longer claim forgetfulness as an excuse because we've been told to remember. We now have to do those things that will help us remember. If that same person who was told to give to the poor is instead told to remember to give to the poor, it is his responsibility not just to give once until he is told or reminded again, but to make sure he remembers to keep giving, to effect some change on his mind so he no longer needs reminding.

As a kid I remember having the bad habit of coming home from school and dropping my coat and backpack on the floor as soon as I got in the house. It seems for years my mom had to tell me every day to carry my things to my bedroom and put them away. I obeyed her every time (though admittedly my obedience was sometimes delayed until after a snack and my favorite TV show), but my ability to put my things away was still dependent on her continued, repeated commands. I had not internalized the importance of putting my things away, and I never thought about it until she told me to do it each day. I'm sure my mother longed for the day that I (and my seven siblings) would remember on our own to put our things away, to think about it and maybe even enjoy it because we had finally come to appreciate the importance of living in an uncluttered house. Likewise, I think the Lord would prefer that we remember on our own to keep the commandments without having to be told every time. Nephi encourages us to remember to keep the commandments. He wants the commandments to be at the forefront of our minds; he wants us to be thinking about them and to understand and appreciate the blessings that come from them so that we enjoy keeping them and choose to do so on our own without having to be reminded.

The difference between Nephi and his brothers in this verse is striking. Not only does he teach them, but he exhorts them with all the energies of his soul and all the faculties he possesses. It's impossible to separate Nephi from his love for the Lord and his intense desire to keep the commandments. It is always on his mind. Laman and Lemuel, on the other hand, seem to never be thinking about the Lord or his commandments. They continually forget the things they've been taught, and they have to be reminded over and over. While Laman and Lemuel may keep some commandments occasionally when they're told, Nephi remembers to keep them always.

I will remember to keep the commandments always in all things.

1 Nephi 15:11--The Things the Lord Has Said

Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

Nephi has just returned from the wilderness to the tent of his father after seeing in vision the destruction of his people. He finds his brothers Laman and Lemuel arguing over things their father had told them. Their hearts were hard, they had not asked the Lord for understanding, and consequently they were confused and contentious. Nephi, presumably overcome with grief at having just witnessed the destruction of his descendants and the end of his posterity, is now called on to overcome probable exasperation at his brothers to try helping them understand.

He begins by asking the cause of their contention, and on hearing that it is a lack of understanding he asks if they have asked the Lord. They respond in the negative, and Nephi then asks, "How is it that you don't keep the commandments? How is it that you'll perish because your hearts are hard? Don't you remember what the Lord has said?"

First off, I feel like I can identify with Nephi here. Sometimes when I see people who don't understand a principle that seems to make perfect sense to me, or who are unfamiliar with a particular prophet's teaching that holds a prominent place in my world view, I get a little frustrated and impatient, and I want to say "What the heck is your problem? How can you not understand that? How have you not heard what President so and so said?" But my attitude is wrong. I don't mean to accuse Nephi of being impatient (though, can you blame him if he is?), and the situation here is quite different than my own experience. Nephi has been with his brothers day and night for years. I don't know how long since they left Jerusalem, but I know that Nephi has been with his brothers on numerous occasions when they've all been taught together by their father and even by an angel. Nephi, then, is calling to their minds something he knows they've heard and have no excuse to not remember. (I, on the other hand, accuse complete strangers of not understanding something I have no idea they've ever been taught.) Still, Nephi proceeds to teach them what it is their father meant.

The take home message for me, then, as it relates to my inquiry on remembering and what it is we're supposed to remember, is to remember the things the Lord has said. This is essentially the same as yesterday's reading; however, looking at the specifics of this verse, what Nephi is calling on his brothers to remember, the specific message from the Lord, is that if we won't harden our hearts, but instead if we'll ask the Lord in faith, believing that we'll receive what we're asking for, always keeping the commandments, then the things we don't understand will be made known to us. The Lord says this to all of us, and it's imperative that we remember. I have more than once had the experience of asking the Lord for understanding, and understanding has been given. Those are the kinds of things I should write about in my journal and in the journals of my kids so that they never forget that the Lord has invited them to ask him for understanding, and he has promised to give them understanding, conditioned upon their faith and their willingness to ask.

1 Nephi 4:14--The Words of the Lord

And now, when I, Nephi, had heard these words, I remembered the words of the Lord which he spake unto me in the wilderness, saying that: Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise.

Here Nephi is going back into Jerusalem after a couple of failed attempts at getting the brass plates from Laban. He has been commanded to do it, but he doesn't know how, so he goes forth led by the Spirit and not knowing beforehand what he will do. He comes upon Laban and is constrained by the Spirit to kill him so that the entire nation of Nephites and Lamanites doesn't dwindle in unbelief for centuries to come (not to mention the millions of people in modern times who, thanks to the Book of Mormon, have come to know Christ--the very existence of the Book of Mormon hinging on this crucial decision by Nephi). Yet Nephi shrinks at the thought. Never had he shed blood. This was likely the most difficult thing Nephi had ever faced. And just at the moment of decision, when the Spirit was speaking to him, he remembered words the Lord had spoken to him in the wilderness. His ability to remember those words, whether he had to make a conscious effort to remember them or whether they just popped into his head, helped him make the right decision.

It's imperative, then, that anytime the Lord speaks to us, we remember it. The Lord has spoken to me, and I find it helpful to write his words down so I can remember them in the future. I think it's significant that the words Nephi remembered were spoken to him in the wilderness. My wilderness has not been a place without buildings and people, but rather times that I have felt I had either lost or given up those things that made life easy and comfortable, and I was facing a difficult journey ahead. The words of the Lord to me in those times have been especially important to my progress. It’s in our wilderness that we most need guidance and are the most ready to receive it.

So to remember the words of the Lord, I will write them down. Some I will write to myself in my own journal, and some I will write to my kids in their journals, as the Spirit dictates. We are commanded to remember the words of the Lord, and I will do all I can to obey that command and to help my kids obey it.

The Beginning

It is my experience that accountability leads to improvement. This has been true with finances, eating habits, exercise, and even my criminal procedure class. I now therefore begin to be accountable to an imaginary audience for my daily study of the Book of Mormon. Ironically, with all there is to read in the world today, I doubt a single person will ever find, let alone read, this blog; yet that doubt is not overpowered by the mere and remote possibility that someone will, in fact, read it, and it is that mere possibility that creates in me a sense of accountability.

I intend to do a topical study of the Book of Mormon, and I begin with those verses containing the word "remember." I do this because over the past few months I have been caught up in three activities that have consumed a lot of my time, and I wonder at the worth of the activities and the wisdom in spending so much time at them. The first is journal writing. I keep a journal for myself and one for each of my two kids (even though our second will not be born until June). Because I am busy with school, I typically do my journal writing on Sundays, and sometimes I’ll sit and write for an hour just to get an entry in my own journal, and then another hour or two for our son James and for our new baby. If I don't increase my efficiency, by the time we have 5 or 6 kids, that will amount to 6 or 7 hours a week just to keep up with journal writing (once a week per person). The second activity is scanning and organizing photos. My mom and I ransacked my grandmother's house a few weeks ago while she was in the hospital (cruel, I know) and scanned every old photograph we could find. The scanning alone took many full days, and now I have hundreds of photos to identify, label, and organize. The third activity is completing the life stories of my grandparents and other ancestors. This has been ongoing for years, and I imagine it will continue for many more.

I'm realizing these activities take a lot of time, and as time is so scarce, I wonder if it is worth it. Part of my thinking has been that no one will ever take the time to read what I've written in my journals or to look through the photos or read the stories of my ancestors. And even if they do, I imagine it will only be fleeting glimpses that take a tiny fraction of the time it is taking me to do all this work. Under that reasoning, it feels somewhat pointless to continue. The benefit does not seem to be worth the effort. A while back the thought occurred to me that maybe I’m wasting my time. Maybe there’s no real point to all this. But then the Spirit whispered to me a reminder of those Book of Mormon verses admonishing us to remember. I felt a need to search and study to identify what exactly it is we are to remember, and why, and how.

In figuring out how it is we are to remember, I have decided that keeping a journal, being familiar with the life stories of my ancestors, and organizing photos are effective ways to do it, though they are likely not the only ways. (For example, studying the scriptures is an effective way to remember.) Part of understanding how to remember is deciding how much of our time should be spent on those things that help us remember. The key here is that it’s not going to be any set amount. We aren’t told to read the scriptures always, or for 10 hours a day every day. It’s something we’re commanded to do, but it’s not the only thing we’re commanded to do, and if we do nothing but read the scriptures, we'll end up being too busy reading about the gospel to actually live it. Likewise, if we spend all our time on journals and photos, we'll be too busy recording life to live it. So, I think we aren’t told exactly how long or how much to study the scriptures for the simple reason that it varies from day to day and from person to person. The important thing is to do it daily. It's the same with journals and photos: there is no set amount of time to spend on it, and it's unproductive to have it consume all your time, but it is important to do it regularly.

On the other hand, one thing we are commanded to do always is to pray. That doesn’t mean we’re on our knees with our eyes shut, consciously forming words of prayer at every minute of the day. There are express prayers, like that, and there are internal prayers, which are the kind we can always keep in our heart by directing it to Heavenly Father even while we’re driving or reading or working or throwing a frisbee. It must be that journaling and organizing photos are like express prayers—important, but we can’t neglect our other daily activities for them. But by doing the express parts (like kneeling-down prayers or organizing ancestors’ photos) it is easier to do the implicit part (like turning our thoughts to the Lord or having our hearts constantly turned to our fathers). We find it easier to think of them, to remember their lives, to feel connected to them, even as we’re going about our daily tasks. It’s one more thing to help us draw nearer to God and be exalted.

Next, I need to realize it’s ok if some people don’t think journals and family history are important or useful. Lots of people don’t think prayer and scripture study are important or useful, but that doesn't make them unimportant. I guess the thing to realize is that for me, keeping journals and knowing my ancestors is important and fulfilling. I’ll continue doing it to the extent that it remains so. Even if nobody else ever goes back and reads what I write, it is still useful because I have benefited both from the exercise of writing and from times I have gone back and read of my own past experiences. My purpose is not to have thousands of my descendants cherish the history I leave behind, so my work in creating a history is not negated by the probable lack of interest from any other person.

Now that I've understood my purpose and gotten an idea as to how the Book of Mormon verses apply to my questions, I plan to improve my journaling (and photo-ing and family history-ing), by studying a few scriptures on the subject. More than fifty verses in the Book of Mormon contain the word “remember,” and most are applicable to my concerns. This blog will document my attempts at understanding and applying these principles. I will begin by finding out what it is we are to remember.