Accepting a Covenant

What is the difference to accept a covenant vs. covenanting?

Websters (1828) defines COVENANT, v.i. To enter into a formal agreement; to stipulate; to bind ones self by contract.

When I convenant, I bind myself to a solemn agreement previously stiputated.

The noun COVENANT is defined:

COVENANT, n. [L, to come; a coming together; a meeting or agreement of minds.]

1. A mutual consent or agreement of two or more persons, to do or to forbear some act or thing; a contract; stipulation. A covenant is created by deed in writing, sealed and executed; or it may be implied in the contract.... 4. In church affairs, a solemn agreement between the members of a church, that they will walk together according to the precepts of the gospel, in brotherly affection.

What does it mean to ACCEPT a COVENANT?

ACCEPT is defined as:

1. To take or receive what is offered, with a consenting mind; to receive with approbation or favor.

2. To regard with partiality; to value or esteem.

3. To consent or agree to; to receive as terms of a contract; as, to accept a treaty; often followed by of.

4. To understand; to have a particular idea of; to receive in a particular sense.

When I covenant, I bind myself to the stated agreement. When I hear the covenant and then accept the convenant rather than actually convenant, a slightly different thing happened.

Paying the Consequences for Sin

I have members of the church allude and outright declare that justice must be exercised on those who sin regardless of whether they have repented or not. I have always disagreed with these people. I leave mercy in God's hands. He can, if he chooses to waive the consequences of sin to some degree.

For example, when the angel came to Alma and the sons of Mosiah, they were stopped in the tracks in their quest to destroy the church of God. They could either repent of be destroyed. When the repented, God show great mercy on them. Look at the following verse:

Alma 26:20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls.

Now Alma and his brethren did receive persecution from the unbelievers. That was a consequence of changing from a sinful state to a righteous state. That wasn't taken away. I can see that the agency of others to persecute another isn't taken away.

Nephite Units of Money

After looking at blogs that show the merits of the Nephite money systems, I went and did my own analysis. What I found was even more amazing than what I remember reading. In a way, it reinforced my testimony of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon. For a man to come up with a unique (and possibly the best ever devised) monetary system that has very minor overall significance to the book would be ludicrous. Why take the time to think the system through? Unless, it was a known fact by the author that could be easily put forth to enhance the overall understanding of Amulek's legal hearing.

On the blogs I have read, I am told that the Nephite system of 1, 2, 4, and 7 and the Egyption system of 1,2, 4 and 8 are the best for making a purchase since they require the least amount of coins (units of measure) to make any number. For example, to make 14 you would need two 7's in Nephite money, and 8, 4 and 2 in Egyptian money and dime and four pennies in American money. So, it take 2 units of money for Nephites to make the purchase, three units for Egyptians and five units for Americans.

I have run the numbers here for myself. Price is the first column. It represents the amount of money asked for. 'N' is for Nephite, 'E' is for Egyption and 'A' is for American. These columns show how many 'coins' of each monetary system it takes to pay the price in the first column.

Price N E A (NSC)
1 1 1 1 1
2 1 1 2 2
3 2 2 3 2
4 1 1 4 1
5 2 2 1
6 2 2 2
7 1 3 3
8 2 1 3
9 2 2 4
10 3 2 1
11 2 3 2
12 3 2 3
13 3 3 4

Tot 25 25 32

14 2 3 4
15 3 4 2
16 3 2 3
17 4 3 4
18 3 2 5
19 4 3 6
20 4 3 2
21 3 4 3
22 4 4 4
23 3 5 5
24 5 3 6
25 4 4 1

Tot 42 41 47
GTot 67 66 79

Up to 13, the Nephites and Egyptians are neck and neck. The Americans lag behind. Up to 25, if I did my numbers right, the Nephites lag behind the Egyptians by one coin. But, there is more to the story! We aren't using the Nephite small coins here.

So, here's what I found. The units used above are more like dollar bills, two dollar bills, four dollar bills and seven dollar bills. In the text, the author, after showing the denominations, the author starts into the small coinage. Everything is based on a senum of silver which equates to a measure of barley. Let's call a senum a 1 unit. This would make the smaller units as follows:

1.0 = 1 senum
.50 = 1 shibon
.25 = 1 shiblum
.125 = 1 leah
1.5 = 1 antion

So, let's say these were coins (no coins are mentioned in this chapter).

a leah would be take the 1 coin position
a shiblum would take the 2 coin value position (it is twice the value of a leah)
a shiblon would tkae the 4 coin value position (it is four times the value of a leah)
the senum would take the 8 coin value position (it is eight times the value of a leah)
and the antion would take the 12 coin position (it is three times the value of a shiblon)
a seon (of the large coin system) would take the 16 position (it is twice a senum)
a shum would take the the 32 positon (four times a senum)

Because the Nephites added an antion which is three shiblons, they have greated a twelve coin denomonation for making small change. With this new coin, it takes only one coin to pay for something that cost 12 and two coins to get to 13. The Nephite psuedo Egyptian small coin system beats the Egyption regular system by 2 coins!

I have added the Nephite Small Coin (NSC) system to the chart below.

Price N E A (NSC)
1 1 1 1 1
2 1 1 2 2
3 2 2 3 2
4 1 1 4 1
5 2 2 1 2
6 2 2 2 2
7 1 3 3 2
8 2 1 3 1
9 2 2 4 2
10 3 2 1 2
11 2 3 2 3
12 3 2 3 1
13 3 3 4 2

Tot 25 25 32 23

14 2 3 4 2
15 3 4 2 3
16 3 2 3 1
17 4 3 4 2
18 3 2 5 2
19 4 4 6 3
20 4 3 2 2
21 3 4 3 3
22 4 4 4 3
23 3 5 5 4
24 5 3 6 2
25 4 4 1 3

Tot 42 41 47 30
GTot 67 66 79 55

The Nephite Small Coin system far surpasses all past systems by 11 coins! The Nephite system is far better at making change then our American system (by 24 coins).

So, there's my (partial) analysis of the Nephite small denomonation monetary system.

By the way, when Zeesrom offers Amulek six onties, he was offering him 42 measures of barley, perhaps (depending of the size of a measure of barley) a month's labor or for a common man (if a measure of barley can feed a man for a day). If it feeds him for one meal, than Amulek was offered enough food for eight days.

Established in the Ways of Righteousness (draft)

After Alma cleanses the church in the city of Zarahemla, he goes east across the river Sidon to the newly established city of Gideon. He tells the members in Gideon that he had ... great hopes...that [they] were found blameless... and were not in the awful dilemma that [their] brethren in were in at Zarahemla. Alma then expressed his joy that the [members of] church in Zarahemla ... are established again in the way of his [God's] righteousness. (Alma 7:3-4)

Alma contrasts the 'awful diilemma' in verse 3 with 'the way of his righteousness' in verse 4. What is God's righteousness to Alma? Alma tells what righteousness is not in the following verses. From these verses it also easy to interpret what it means to be established in the way of God's righteousness. Alma says that their brethren in Zarahemla were ... in a state of of so much unbelief... and trusts the the Gideon brethren are not in the same state. This state of unbelief caused the church in Zarahemla to be lifted up in the pride of their hearts, have their hearts set on riches and the vain things of the world, to worship idols. (Alma 7:6) Alma is trusting that Gideon brethren are not involved in same thing but that they are worshipping the living God and look forward for the remission of their sins with an everlasting faith in that which is to come. (v.6)

When our hearts are right our desires are right. When we have received a sufficient hope in Christ, our hearts change and we desire to do good. Those with these desires are then organized so that goodness is optimized. This united goodness comes from the righteous desires of each individual member. When this happens, something special happens. God pours out his blessing upon that organzed group of people.

The Order of the Church

In Alma 8:1 Alma states that he 'established the order of the church' in the land of Gideon 'as he had done before in the land of Zarahemla.' I believe that this phrase has a specific meaning. I even wonder if there are multiple orders of a church. Alma's order of the church is based on what his father established a generation earlier. The order is based on the teachings of earlier prophets such as Jacob and King Benjamin. This order has a few identifiers: Believing that Christ will come and atone for their sins, practicing humility as well as other personal character traits, giving to the poor and needy with a requirement of giving one's surplus substance with equality as the end in mind, showing one's faith by reviling not when presecuted, using one's substance in such a way that its use doesn
t mock other, thus walking uprightly before God.

(Draft) The Impossible Line - Believing without Doubt

Although there are many degrees of christian discipleship, there is a standard set forth in the Book of Mormon. When a person arrives at this standard, he has rent the veil of unbelief. So, where is the line between unbelief and faith, doubting and believing? I believe that as I apply myself himself in the development of gospel principles I lessen my unbelief and increase in faith. My doubt begins to dissipate and I become more and more steady in my faith. At some point I will rend the veil of unbelief.

I understand from my study that the sermon on the mount is a good test as to whether one is approaching or has already crossed the line into true discipleship. When I read the Sermon on the Mount, I ask myself whether or not I do the things commanded by the Lord. If so, do I do them with the right heart? Do I even agree with the Lord's philosophy? Does it even make sense?




Here are some of the things that I have discovered.






God prioritises and orders our personal growth.






1. As you ask for what you need to work on, he gives you something to do.






Attributes of a Believer. A true believer is working on the following.






Revile not



Giving freely of one's substance



Keep the commandments






The Dividing Line between Unbelieve and Believing.






1. Use Ether 4 verses about have a broken heart and contrite spirit.



2. There seems to be an attitude that all I have is God's.



3. Casting off all fear. The natural man fears letting go. What if I let go of all my sins and attitudes?



4. Faith seems to be tied to believing that if God said so, you ought to do it. For example, the natural man knows it is illogical to not fight back when we are malligned. But the gospel requires us to revile not when we are mocked or persecuted. We measure or spiritual development by the way we respond to negative things in our lives. These things can be thoughts, emotions or behavior. When we notice that we still responding as a natural man would, this is when we look to God and ask for His grace to overcome the weakness.






5. The dividing line of unbelief and belief. On the one side we fear changing. On the other side we abhor sin and feel a deep hope and love.

Financial Mormonism

I coined a new phase: financial Mormonism. This is where our American cultural has penetrated into the lives of members to such a degree that a belief develops that the richer you are the more blessed you are. It also is presented to the youth as the end all for the beautiful life. Since the humble follower of Christ goal isn't presented very clearly in the classrooms of the church, a replacement goal is modeled. The more financially set you are the more you are following the gospel. This isn't true and never has been. It may be true that a humble follower of Christ can be financially well off but it isn't true that well off Mormons are humble followers of Christ. What has caused this goal replacement? It is what we have been modeled for a 100 years. If there were many individuals (and I have met a few) modeling the life of a true believer, we would be seeing those ways more frequently and would be able discern it. We would hear their testimonies and feel their power. We would watch their actions want to be like them. Signs and miracles follow them that believe. The other group in the dingy just doesn't have as much respect as the large group in the ship. Of course, many of us are trying to climb the rungs of the ladder and are not stopping. More and more are rending the veil of unbelief and relying wholly on Christ's merits. I don't want to stop at financial Mormonism or Pharisaical Mormonism or zealot Mormonism or new age Mormonism. They all exist in the church. I want to become a true believer by word and action.