Latter-day Saint FAIR-Cast

What Would You “Wish” For? by Autumn Dickson Solomon, David’s son, has become king. Very early on in his reign, Solomon has a dream in which the Lord appears to The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 2 Samuel 11–12; 1 Kings 3; 6–9; 11 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

David Fought Goliath Without Armor by Autumn Dickson In 1 Samuel 17, we read about one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament: David and Goliath. It’s an incredible story of faith that can teach us a lot about following Christ. The fact that David saved the Israelites was a big deal, but how he […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 1 Samuel 17–18; 24–26; 2 Samuel 5–7 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Repenting of Unintentional Sin by Autumn Dickson In my last post, we talked about Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. As a quick review in case you missed the last post, this day was a solemn event with an undercurrent of joy. The main ritual of the day included two identical male goats. One goat would […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 35–40; Leviticus 1; 4; 16; 19 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 35–40; Leviticus 1; 4; 16; 19 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Still Holding On To Guilt? by Autumn Dickson This week we’re learning about the sacrifices and rituals of the Israelites in the wilderness. They had a temple that would go with them as they travelled, and there was immense symbolism all throughout this temple. Much of this symbolism was meant to draw the attention of the […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 35–40; Leviticus 1; 4; 16; 19 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 19–20; 24; 31–34 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Why God Let the Israelites Worship the Golden Calf by Autumn Dickson The infamous golden calf incident; that is one of the stories we read about this week. Moses is gone a long time speaking with the Lord. The people grow impatient and tell Aaron to build them a god. He took their earrings (the […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 19–20; 24; 31–34 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Parted Waters, Messy Leadership, and Miracles by Autumn Dickson The story of Moses freeing the Israelites through the power of God is an incredible parable for the atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s probably the most important lesson we can pull from that story. However, it’s not the only story we can learn from it. There are other […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 14–18 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 14–18 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Delivered…But Pharaoh Came Again by Autumn Dickson I love the story of Moses and the Red Sea. There is a reason it was used as an example time and time again throughout the history of the scriptures. There is so much goodness. One of the parts of the story that used to stick out to […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 14–18 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Find Joy in the Wilderness by Autumn Dickson When I was studying the Doctrine and Covenants last year, my pattern revolved around learning about the people who were receiving the revelations and how they were feeling so that we could better relate to them and receive the same comfort in the revelations that they did. […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 7–13 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 7–13 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Magicians, Satan, and Cheap Imitations by Autumn Dickson This week we get to read about some of the plagues that occurred in Egypt before Pharaoh finally released the Israelite slaves. It’s a classic Old Testament story that has been told time and time again. It teaches us about Jesus Christ delivering us from sin, and […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 7–13 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

A Passover Question For You by Autumn Dickson For my last post this week, we talked about some specifics of Passover in order to better reflect on our free status because of Christ. I really love the Passover. My sister does a Passover meal for Easter each year, and there are so many beautiful traditions […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Easter – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Easter – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Reclined. Redeemed. by Autumn Dickson This week we celebrate Easter, and with it, the ability of the Savior to redeem us. Because we are studying the Old Testament this year, I’d like to look at the predecessor to the holiday of Easter: Passover. There is a lot of symbolism that comes with the Passover; let’s […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Easter – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Seeing Through Anguish of Spirit by Autumn Dickson In our last post, we talked about how Moses turned to the Lord in despair. He had done what the Lord asked and told Pharaoh to free the Israelites. In response, Pharaoh gave them more work. Moses blamed himself and asked the Lord why He had been […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 1–6 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 1–6 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Did God Send Me Here to Fail? by Autumn Dickson Moses was a prophet who delivered the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. He was such a good prophet that the Jews held him up as a standard for a long time. He is still revered as a great prophet. And yet, despite his righteousness, his closeness […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Exodus 1–6 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Judgment Day Isn’t What You Think by Autumn Dickson The story of Joseph teaches us so many things about Christ. There are poignant details that point us in the direction of Christ’s story. There are so many directions we could go. However, let’s talk about one principle. Joseph’s story can teach us about Judgment Day. […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 42–50 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah.   The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 42–50 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

We Can’t Afford Grace by Autumn Dickson Last week, we talked about some of the symbolism behind Joseph’s story. He offered food that filled the bellies of the Egyptians and saved them. Christ offers salvation, and we should be actively paying attention to whether we’re bringing the bread home or internalizing it and letting it […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 42–50 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

More Than Food Storage; Famine and Atonement by Autumn Dickson The Old Testament is full of stories, and oftentimes, those stories come as a type of things to come. They teach us about life. They teach us about our relationship with God and our dependence on the Savior. Joseph’s life is no different. We can […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 37–41 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah.   The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 37–41 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

When Doing What’s Right Brings Pain by Autumn Dickson It is no question that Joseph went through some tough stuff despite trying to do what’s right. Being betrayed by your brothers and sold into slavery, thrown into prison, being forgotten after helping someone. None of these things should be skimmed over or treated lightly. Those […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 37–41 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

You Haven’t Ruined Your Life by Autumn Dickson My first message of this week was about Rebekah and Jacob tricking Isaac into giving Esau’s blessing to Jacob. Rebekah had received a revelation that the older would serve the younger, and she took matters into her own hands to make that happen. It worked, and Jacob […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 24–33 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah.   The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 24–33 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Feeling Alone? Trust Him. by Autumn Dickson The Old Testament is full of imperfect people. There is strife and difficulty. Families struggle together. We see people who are trying to follow God, sometimes in desperation, and they make mistakes along the way. We see a whole spectrum of human emotion. It makes me wonder how much […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 24–33 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

The Subtle Destruction of Looking Back by Autumn Dickson The story of Lot’s wife is an intense one. Sodom and Gomorrah was a wicked city, and God commanded Lot to flee with his family and not look back. They are told to leave immediately or be swept away in the destruction. Lot goes and tells […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 18–23 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

On Behalf of Ten by Autumn Dickson The Old Testament is chock full of stories. One of the stories this week is about Sodom and Gomorrah. They were an incredibly wicked city, and the Lord destroyed them. Before the Lord does so, He talks to Abraham about it. Abraham has a whole conversation with the […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 18–23 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Do You See the Angels? by Autumn Dickson The beginning of Abraham’s story is a well-known one in our church. He was almost sacrificed on an altar because he believed in the one true God. The priests “laid violence” upon him, and then this happened. Abraham 1:15 And as they lifted up their hands upon […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 12–17; Abraham 1–2 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 12–17; Abraham 1–2 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

What True Worship Looks Like by Autumn Dickson I have been thinking a lot about what it means to worship God lately. It keeps popping up through random little avenues in my life. We’ve had the opportunity to have the missionaries in our home who taught about the ten commandments and only worshipping the one […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 12–17; Abraham 1–2 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Was the Flood an Act of Mercy? by Autumn Dickson Noah’s ark is one of the most classic bible stories. Even when you’re not Christian, many people are aware of the story and what it means. I read these verses in the last post for this week, and I’m going to read them again with […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 6–11; Moses 8 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 6–11; Moses 8 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

A Flood and a Fresh Start by Autumn Dickson This week we read about a couple of classic Bible stories, one of which is Noah and the ark. Let’s read a couple of verses. Noah was led to build and ark, and then he went into the ark with his sons. God shut them up […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 6–11; Moses 8 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay by Autumn Dickson In Moses 7, Enoch watched some of the most devastating events in human history. He watched the earth be traumatized. He watched violence and the consequent justice of God. There was death and abundant evil. I’m not sure I want to see the vision that Enoch […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Moses 7 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Moses 7: Enoch’s Vision (Jennifer Roach Lees) The vision of Enoch in Moses 7 bridges the gap between ancient scripture and modern discipleship. We can absolutely see ourselves in it. On the one hand, it’s a text of great scholarly interest. Go read Jeff Bradshaw’s paper. It’s very long, very dense and very scholarly. Moses 7 expands the kind of sparse biblical account of Enoch into this big sweeping narrative. And on the other hand, it’s a profoundly practical guide for Latter-day Saints seeking to live faithfully in the present, not in some future idealized world on the actual street that you live on. The dual significance makes Moses 7 a cornerstone for both intellectual exploration and spiritual transformation. Those two are not pitted against each other, right? Those are the same thing. Ultimately, Moses 7 matters because it shows that scholarship and discipleship are not separate pursuits. Understanding the text’s historical or theological depth, it enriches our faith so that we are able to live our lives based on its principles. Welcome Back Welcome back to FAIR’s Come, Follow Me old testament year. I am Jennifer Roach Lees and today we are talking about one of the most beautiful pieces of scripture, Moses 7. We’re going to look at both some scholarly insights into this passage as well as some of the practical applications. This passage is one of the most expansive and theologically rich chapters in the Pearl of Great Price – or honestly, in any scripture. In this vision, the prophet Enoch is transformed from this hesitant kind of slow-of-speech figure into a seer who beholds the entire cosmic drama of God’s dealings with humans. And for Latter-day Saints, this chapter is remarkable for its doctrinal contributions such as:  a portrayal of God who has emotions, who weeps over his children,  the promise of Zion being taken into heaven,  the sweeping narrative of redemption. It also has a lot of practical relevance in our modern day discipleship. Zion as a Lived Reality One of the most interesting things to me in this chapter is that Zion is not supposed to be just this distant hope or this past thing that Enoch got to experience. It’s supposed to be a lived reality, a community of unity and holiness that invites believers to come and to grow. Now, it is not always that. And most of us do not live in a Zion-like experience all of the time. But it’s what we’re striving for, right? And I think that part is fascinating. We will look at this chapter for its scholarly significance as a text and its devotional power as kind of a guide for:  how you even build Zion in your personal life,  your family, and  around the world.  By looking at Enoch’s transformation and God’s compassion, the translation of Zion, we can see how and why this vision is still so important to us today. Ultimately, this chapter matters because it calls us to participate in God’s work of gathering, healing, and sanctifying. A work that isn’t about like the distant heavens, but about the ordinary choices that you and I make every single day. Historical and Scriptural Context So, first we’ll talk a little bit about the history here and the scriptural context. The account of Enoch in Moses 7 occupies this very distinctive place within Latter-day Saints scripture. Enoch is mentioned in the Bible, but really only briefly. It’s in Genesis 5. He’s someone who walked with God and then was translated –  taken out of this world – but there is no story beyond that. There’s no narrative given. So, by contrast, Joseph Smith reveals Enoch’s story as this big, sweeping vision of cosmic scale. He gives us actually 110 verses across Moses 6 and 7 about Enoch’s story compared to less than a handful of verses in the Old Testament.  This expansion really situates Enoch not as just a righteous patriarch, but as a prophet who establishes Zion, right? So, slightly different than some of the other Old Testament patriarchs that we see. And Enoch beholds the destiny of the earth. As grand as that sounds, that’s what happens with him.  For Latter-day Saints, what’s happening here is that restoring this scripture underscores the restoration’s claim to recover lost truths.  Parallels Between Moses 7 and Apocryphal Writings Now, scholars have long noted the parallels between Moses 7 and the Jewish apocryphal writings.  The Apocrypha is a collection of pre-new testament works. Somewhere between when the Old Testament ends and when the New Testament begins, we get these writings from Jewish people and we call them the Apocrypha. Many of them are collected into this translation they call the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament. We call those the official Apocrypha. And there are also other apocryphal books outside of that, that are not in this defined collection. But we refer to all of these as apocryphal writings. There’s a lot in common between Moses 7 and some of these writings. It is pretty fascinating. There are actually connections in other ancient books beyond the accepted Apocrypha. And one of those books is called the Book of Giants. We’ll get to that one in a minute. First, let me tell you about one that is in the Apocrypha. It’s called the book of Enoch. Enoch is a visionary. He ascends to heaven. He receives some divine secrets. He intercedes for humanity. Joseph Smith may or may not have been able to read the Apocrypha. It’s connected to the Catholic Bible still to this day. It’s printed in their Bible. Perhaps he was able to read that. Ancient Parallels: Book of Enoch and the Book of Giants The thematic overlap is certainly there with the book of Enoch and with other ancient traditions.  Most striking here is a depiction of a God who weeps over human suffering. You see that in the book of Enoch and the Apocrypha. It’s very central to Latter-day Saint theology – this divine compassion. We don’t see that in a lot of other places. The Book of Giants, another very interesting connection. This is the one that gets me. Jeffrey Bradshaw has a paper called , Moses 6–7 and the Book of Giants: Remarkable Witnesses of Enoch’s Ministry. You can find it on the BYU website. You can download it for free. It’s also on The Interpreter Foundation’s website. It’s a very long, dense paper. But it is absolutely worth the struggle to get through. If this intrigues you at all, I absolutely recommend you go download his paper. It’s really, really good. The Gist of Bradshaw’s Argument Here’s the gist of it though. (And Jeff, forgive me for the simplification of your work here, but…)  Bradshaw makes connections between Moses 7 and a book that had long been lost to history called The Book of Giants. This book, the Book of Giants, was found again when they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. So, it existed, disappeared. We didn’t know of any copies of it. We didn’t know of its existence. It pops back up along with the Dead Sea Scrolls. There’s a lot of things in those scrolls. The Book of Giants is one of them.  Why is this interesting? Well, because if the worry is ‘Joseph Smith made up the book of Moses on his own,’ then it’s very hard to explain the similar names and phrases and themes that are found when talking about Enoch in the Book of Moses, and talking about Enoch in The Book of Giants. There are a lot of similarities. The Book of Giants was not available to Joseph Smith. It had not yet been rediscovered. And yet today you can go online actually and read the text of The Book of Giants if you want to. You can put that right next to Moses 6 and 7. And it’s not a copy by any means, but:  There are similar names. There are certainly similar themes. There’s similar phrasing. How did Joseph do that except for by the power of God? That’s one of my favorite little academic tidbits about all of this. Early Latter-day Saint Identity and Zion Aspirations Historically, the Enoch material in Moses 7 really shaped early Latter-day Saint identity. The vision of Zion taken into heaven inspired Joseph and his followers to pursue creation of Zion communities in Missouri and beyond. The idea that a people could be so unified and righteous that they would be gathered into God’s presence gave them this really big blueprint for communal living. But also, it gave them some very practical ‘here is how that’s going to have to work out’ steps. So Moses 7 is not only this expansion, but it’s also a foundational text for the church’s early social and religious aspirations. Themes in Moses 7 The historical and scriptural context of Moses 7 reveals its double significance. It connects us to this great vision and it kind of gives us a framework for how to live today.  We’re going to move into the next section. I want to talk about some of the themes in Moses 7. It unfolds around several interwoven themes and we’re just going to cover a few of them here. Enoch’s transformation: him as a man, his own transformation;  The establishment of Zion and  The compassion of God. Actually – The translation of the city. All of these, especially when looked at together, offer a framework for understanding how ancient scripture speaks to modern-day discipleship. And we’re going to look at each one of those closely so you can see what I mean. Theme 1: Enoch’s Personal Transformation First, Enoch’s own personal transformation. The narrative begins with Enoch as this reluctant prophet. He’s described as slow of speech. And yet through God’s empowerment, he becomes a mighty seer whose words cause mountains to flee and rivers to change course. The transformation underscores this great restoration principle, which is: God magnifies the weak to accomplish his purposes. And for Latter-day Saints, Enoch’s journey is a reminder that discipleship does not require innate brilliance or eloquence, but just willingness to act in faith. We all are standing on equal ground. In daily life, this theme encourages believers to trust that God can strengthen them: In their callings,  In their family responsibilities,  In their personal challenges. Study and Prayer Are Not Opposites Sometimes though, people maybe inside or outside of the church try to pit this idea (that God magnifies the weak to accomplish his purposes). They try to pit that against the idea that it’s good to study and to learn as much as you can about the scriptures, and that intelligence is good. They want to pit these two against each other as if studying for guidance and praying for guidance were opposites. But they’re not. Study for its own sake probably doesn’t help very much. But when a scholar works to study all they can, that can be a form of prayer – as well as information that feeds back into how the spirit can speak to that person. “Study to learn what God has for you” and  “Pray to learn what God has for you”  are not opposites.Those two things work together. So when we say, “Enoch was this simple man. God magnified his weakness and made him great.” We’re not saying, “Oh, study is bad. You just have to wait for God to miraculously zap this into you.” It just isn’t that way. There’s no division between scholar and disciple when both parts have the same goal. Those are not two separate things. So, that’s a little bit on Enoch’s own development. Theme 2: The Vision of Zion Theme number two, the vision of Zion. Perhaps the most defining feature of Moses 7 is its portrayal of Zion, a people united in righteousness, dwelling in safety, and enjoying the presence of the Lord. Sounds pretty good. And at different times in history, Latter-day Saints have seen Zion as a specific place to gather to, and at other times, we’ve seen it as a theological ideal of covenant community. Let me give you probably the best example I can think of. If you’ve read the Saints books that the church put out a couple years ago, you see this illustrated really nicely. The first volume, it’s all about the establishment of the church, right? The second volume is about the Utah period, establishing Zion here, and the struggles that people went through to get to that goal. But you get to the third book and the church is beginning to build temples around the world. The writers of that book do a fascinating thing at the end of the third book. I actually kind of had my jaw open when I read the end of this one and realized what they were doing: the narrative significance of this move. It’s pretty brilliant. Spoiler alert! If you haven’t read it yet, I’m about to tell you how the book ends. The Story of Max and Erica Zimmer The book follows the stories of a lot of people, but it follows one couple who are living in East Berlin, Max and Erica Zimmer. The Berlin Wall has been constructed, but somehow the Zimmers have received permission to leave Berlin and go to the Switzerland Temple. And while they’re there in Switzerland, they have a legitimate chance to defect to the west and be free. They’re living in East Berlin. The wall is up. They’re behind the Berlin wall. They don’t have freedom here. They find themselves in Switzerland. And they could run. (I’ve got to admit, if it was me, I would run.) But they don’t. Instead, they decide to go back to East Berlin. Why? To build Zion there. I wouldn’t make the same choice. Maybe you wouldn’t have either, to be honest. But their story illustrates how the historical changes in the church, how we see Zion, how those have played out.  For this couple, the Zimmers, Zion wasn’t about, “oh, you must go to Utah to get to experience this.” It was “No, we’re going to build Zion exactly where we are.” This becomes both a theological concept for them and a place that they can inhabit without having to uproot their lives to the other side of the world. It becomes both a real physical place that exists as well as a theological concept. For modern saints, Zion is both this future hope and present task. We’re building our homes and our wards and our communities where hopefully love and holiness prevail. And it’s hard, right? It just is. If you spend any amount of time – even with your own family – things are hard. Yet it is the work of building Zion. There isn’t a place we can go. There isn’t a neighborhood you can move into where Zion’s already established and if you found it your presence there would ruin it and it wouldn’t be Zion anymore, right? We’re all like learning and growing our own development to bring this together as both concept and place. Theme 3: The Compassion of God Third theme, the compassion of God. One of the most striking passages in Moses 7 depicts God weeping or suffering on behalf of his children. You might not realize this if you’ve kind of grown up in our church and don’t know very much about the theology of other churches. But this image seriously challenges traditional notions about God and if he has emotions at all and if he’s impacted by us. Sometimes they call it divine impassibility or the idea that God does not feel human emotions and certainly is not swayed by them. That’s the standard non-Latter-day Saint belief. “God doesn’t have passions” is how they would say it. As silly as it might sound to you to think of God as being kind of cold and distant like that, that’s how he is viewed outside of our church for the most part. However, interestingly enough, in the last 20 years or so, that conversation has started to change even for Catholics and Protestants. The theologian Jurgen Moltman was incredibly prolific. He actually died last year. One of the most prolific theologians of the last 50 years. He really started to push the conversation to say, “No, no, we’ve been wrong about this idea that God doesn’t have emotions. We should start reconsidering that.” And because of his status and who he was as a theologian, people listened to him. And you will find today in some corners of the non-LDS Christian world people who believe, “Oh yeah, of course God has emotions. Of course God is moved by us.” But that’s a new development for them. That has not always been the case. I think it’s delightful that at least some of them are starting to move toward that. God Shares in Our Pain For us as Latter-day Saints, this idea that God feels for us and feels because of us offers profound comfort. God is not distant from human pain, but He shares in it. Our daily discipleship involves seeing others through God’s compassionate eyes, right? Allowing them to move us just like we can move God. That we might suffer for other people just like God suffers for us. As we work to alleviate suffering, we are doing the work of God the same things that he does for us. We are acting as his children to our brothers and sisters.   Theme 4: The Translation of Zion Fourth theme: the translation of Zion. Finally, Moses 7 describes the City of Zion being taken up into heaven. We call that translation, and it’s actually a really common theme in apocryphal writings. Earlier I was telling you there’s a set of writings we call the Apocrypha. There are lots of other books beyond that, that we would just call “apocryphal writings”. This is a really common theme: someone or something being taken from the earth and translated. They don’t die. They are just taken up to be with God. However, it’s usually just an individual that’s translated, not a whole city. If you’re listening, I would love to hear if you know of any spots in apocryphal literature where a whole city is taken up and translated in that way. I don’t know of any. It’s usually just a single individual. For Latter-day Saints, I think part of the message here is: we are redeemed together. All of humanity. All of us together, not just individuals. We who are living, we care about the redemption of our dead. Because if there’s no redemption for them, there’s no redemption for us either. We are all bound together. If something is going to get saved, it’s not us just as isolated individuals. It’s us in the great chain of sealing all being sealed into the same system. The fact that the whole city is taken up together, not just one holy individual, to me that really symbolizes the redemption of the entire world, of humanity together. I think that’s really beautiful. Practical Applications for Daily Life A few practical applications for daily life. Moses 7 offers profound theological insights and its enduring power lives and how it shapes our daily lives. So, it’s not just this big thing. It’s a small, little-step thing too. Enoch’s vision of Zion is not simply this historical curiosity, a thing that used to exist. Or a future promise, something that will someday exist again. It’s a living invitation for us, for Latter-day Saints, for Christians everywhere to embody divine principles in their personal, family and community lives. Your own personal version of Zion. Enoch’s transformation from hesitant speaker to mighty prophet illustrates that God magnifies ordinary individuals. For modern saints, this means that discipleship begins with small, faithful acts. Prayer  Study  Reading the scriptures  Service  Integrity Right? Building Zion personally involves: Cultivating compassion,  Resisting cynicism,  Resisting despair,  Trusting that God can strengthen your weakness. These are all the little micro-building blocks of Zion. Zion isn’t something that’s going to happen to us, or that God is going to zap into us. It’s something we’re going to build with tiny little building blocks just like those. Building Zion in the Family We also have our families.  No family is perfect.  No family is perfect in unity all the time. No family is perfect in love all the time. But a family that’s striving to be like Zion is one where each member believes that no matter what happens,  They are still going to love each other. They are still going to be moved by each other. They’re still going to have compassion on each other the very best that they can. Being a Zion family is not about being perfect. It’s not about having children who behave perfectly. It’s not about having adult children who make perfect gospel decisions. It’s about having compassion for each other’s struggles. Just like Heavenly Father has compassion on ours, he weeps for us. And sometimes, as sad and hard as it is, sometimes we weep for our other family members while not rejecting them, while still wanting to be there to support them to the degree that we can. This model of Zion doesn’t require a family to live in some kind of false perfection. It allows lots of room for struggle because we can model the compassion that Heavenly Father has for us. A Global Zion And then finally, a global Zion. Moses 7 expands Zion’s vision to encompass the entire world. God’s weeping over all of humanity calls believers to see all people as children of God. For Latter-day Saints, this means engaging in peacemaking, justice, compassion in and outside of the church. Right? Daily discipleship may involve  advocating for fairness,  advocating for dignity,  loving your fellow man, and  serving where you can. In this way, Zion becomes not just a local community as if you happen to just move into a really great ward, right? Or you happen to be born in a really great family. No! This is all of us together, the entire human race, learning to do this with each other. It’s a global ethic. Moses 7 matters because it transforms this lofty vision of all eternity and redemption into really practical calls to action by building Zion personally. All those little, small building blocks within your family. How we treat each other with compassion and in our worldwide community. We are  building Zion. Latter-day Saints participate in this same divine work that Enoch and his people participated in. This chapter’s relevance lies not in some distant history, but in the choices that saints are making every single day to embody unity and compassion and holiness. Conclusion The vision of Enoch in Moses 7 bridges the gap between ancient scripture and modern discipleship. We can absolutely see ourselves in it. On the one hand, it’s a text of great scholarly interest. (Go read Jeff Bradshaw’s paper. It’s very long, dense and scholarly) Moses 7 expands the sparse biblical account of Enoch into a big, sweeping narrative. And on the other hand, it’s a profoundly practical guide for Latter-day Saints seeking to live faithfully in the present – not in some future idealized world – on the actual street that you live on. The dual significance makes Moses 7 a cornerstone for both intellectual exploration and spiritual transformation. Those two are not pitted against each other, right? Those are the same thing. Ultimately, Moses 7 matters because it shows that scholarship and discipleship are not separate pursuits. Understanding the text’s historical or theological depth, it enriches our faith so that we are able to live our lives based on its principles. In Enoch’s vision, we find this beautifully woven together, a reminder that building Zion is the work of both mind and heart. Next Week Thank you for joining us today in this conversation. Come back next week! We’re going to look at the last chapter in the book of Moses, chapter 8, as well as Genesis 6-11. We’ll see you then. Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Moses 7 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Why We Build Arks When We are Saved By Grace by Autumn Dickson Moses 7 is powerful. There is so much. I have so many thoughts, but let’s keep it to a few. One of those thoughts came to me while reading this verse. Moses 7:43 Wherefore Enoch saw that Noah built an ark; and that […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Moses 7 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

The Power of a Spiritual Record by Autumn Dickson I’ve given this message before, and I’ll probably give this message again someday. This message has been repeated so frequently throughout scripture so I figure it’s not the end of the world if I repeat it too. It is something that has been taught by modern day […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 5; Moses 6 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

  Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 5; Moses 6 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Revelation, Submission, Sacrifice by Autumn Dickson For this week, we get to read more about Adam and Eve and their posterity. While reading about this posterity, we find a really beautiful summary of how to live. It is so simple and yet so profound. Moses 6:3 And God revealed himself unto Seth, and he rebelled […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 5; Moses 6 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

The Power of Giving God the Glory by Autumn Dickson We are learning all about how man came to be on the earth. The Lord is setting the stage for us to understand the context in which we were placed on the earth. Part of that context is understanding the Fall and everything associated with it. […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

From Sin to Stepping Stone by Autumn Dickson This week we get to read about how Adam and Eve made their way out of the garden and into the world that we know today. There are principles here that can change how you see your own efforts to follow Christ. Some of the principles we […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 3–4; Moses 4–5 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Jennifer is joined in this episode by Ben Spackman to talk about Genesis chapters 1 and 2.   Ben Spackman is a historian and scholar whose work spans Semitic languages, biblical studies, the history of science, and the history of Christianity—particularly the Reformation and modern American religion. He completed doctoral coursework in Comparative Semitics at the University of Chicago before earning his Ph.D. in American Religious History from Claremont Graduate University. Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

Not Meant to Be Alone by Autumn Dickson The world is so confused. The more I learn about the gospel and the more I observe the world, the more I’m amazed at how lost the world is. The world is constantly seeking happiness, but it still seems so elusive. I testify that there is joy […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Creation: What I Learned Watching My Husband Build a House by Autumn Dickson This week, we read about the Creation story. I don’t have a specific verse to share, but I have an overarching idea that I want you to contemplate while reading the Creation story. There are many principles that we can talk about; we […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Genesis 1–2; Moses 2–3; Abraham 4–5 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

Jennifer and guest Sarah Allen discuss the books of Moses and Abraham.   Sarah Allen is a Senior Researcher with FAIR, a former member of Scripture Central’s research team, and the 2022 recipient of the John Taylor: Defender of the Faith Award. An avid reader, she loves studying the Gospel and the history of the restored Church. After watching some of her friends lose their testimonies, she became interested in helping others through their faith crises. That’s when she began sharing what she’d learned through her studies. She is a co-moderator the LDS subreddit on Reddit and the author of a multi-part series rebutting the CES Letter. She is also the co-host of FAIR’s “Me, My Shelf, & I” podcast. She’s grateful to those at FAIR who have given her the opportunity to share her testimony with a wider audience. Jennifer Roach Lees holds a Master in Divinity as well as a Masters in Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed mental health therapist and lives in Utah. The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Moses 1; Abraham 3 – Jennifer Roach Lees appeared first on FAIR.

God Will Pause to Save You by Autumn Dickson I got a little lost as I was reading in Abraham at 6:00 am after staying up too late reading a book. Abraham had received a vision that showed him the workmanship of the Lord’s hands. He discerned a whole lot, and then the Lord started explaining […] The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Moses 1; Abraham 3 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.