A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things

Consider, if you will, the account of the creation found in the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price (Or you could look at Moses' account in Genesis; there it is in chapter 1 instead of 2).
At the end of each creationary period, God declared the creation "good" (emphasis is mine).

Moses 2:

10 And I, God, called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, called I the Sea; and I, God, saw that all things which I had made were good.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, every herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed should be in itself, after his kind; and I, God, saw that all things which I had made were good;

18 And the sun to rule over the day, and the moon to rule over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and I, God, saw that all things which I had made were good;

21 And I, God, created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind; and I, God, saw that all things which I had created were good.

25 And I, God, made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything which creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and I, God, saw that all these things were good.

31 And I, God, saw everything that I had made, and, behold, all things which I had made were very good.

I have long believe that meant that the various creations were well made. While I do not doubt that to be the case, I have found that the book of Abraham (also in the Pearl of Great Price) uses different wording that provides an additional understanding of what "good" might mean (emphasis is mine, again).

Abraham 4:

10 And the Gods pronounced the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, pronounced they, Great Waters; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.

12 And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass from its own seed, and the herb to bring forth herb from its own seed, yielding seed after his kind; and the earth to bring forth the tree from its own seed, yielding fruit, whose seed could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.

18 And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed.

21 And the Gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters were to bring forth abundantly after their kind; and every winged fowl after their kind. And the Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good.

25 And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind; and the Gods saw they would obey.

31 And the Gods said: We will do everything that we have said, and organize them; and behold, they shall be very obedient. And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and they numbered the sixth time.


In both accounts, the first (light/dark) and second (firmament, water dividing) do not get pronounced as good or obedient. It is said that they were as they were ordered. The lights and the waters do not have living souls, perhaps, whereas the plants, all manner of animal life, and man do? Just a guess there. The beasts are pronounced good/obedient, but then after man is made, God looks over all of creation and calls the entirety very good/obedient.

The point I am moving towards is that when Moses says "good" it can be understood to mean "obedient" or that it did as it was commanded - live, multiply replenish, fulfill measure of creation, etc. This doesn't seem a very large stretch of meaning for me. Think of good v. evil - in this case, good is the opposite of evil. Synonyms for the antonym (that's fun to say) of evil include righteous and obedient and true and faithful. When God made everything, He made it in a Good, Righteous, Obedient state. Creation later fell with Adam, but that is too large of a tangent.

Keeping in mind that good=obedient, remember the famous scripture mastery verse in Abraham 3:22-23,

22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

 23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

True to form, God chose those souls that were obedient and gave them further gifts and responsibilities. Those spirits who were obedient were called and chosen to preach the gospel, shepherd the flock, and lead Zion in the ways of righteousness.

I think this works well with what Alma had to say about High Priests (think Christ, Melchizedek, Abraham, Adam, Seth, Noah, Enoch among others) in Alma 13:3-13 (it is a long quote, but the whole thing worth reading - go read it). Consider also what God says about High Priests (and others) in Doctrine and Covenants 76:51-70 (57) - another long quote but one I suggest you read in its entirety.

I think there is a lot of harmony in these passages and an interesting insight into what the Lord means when He says He seeth not as a man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. What is He looking for there? Love. The kind of love that goes with "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The kind of love that spurs you on to obedience. 

"Remember... and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God." (Alma 37:35) 

"O be wise, what can I say more?" (Jacob 6:12)

Learning by Faith

"Thou Art a Teacher Come from God", Thomas S. Monson, Conference Report, October 1970, pp. 104-108:

The goal of gospel teaching today... is not to "pour information" into the minds of class members.... The basic goal of teaching in the Church is to help bring about worthwhile changes in the lives of boys and girls, men and women. The aim is to inspire the individual to think about, feel about, and then do something about living gospel principles.

As teachers, we are to inspire students to

Think about (ask questions, wonder, study personally, ponder)

Feel about (feel and recognize the Spirit)

and then Do something about living gospel principles (apply and act on the knowledge and promptings gained)

and I would add (as a special instance of "do")

Testify (about what they have learned so that the truths can be confirmed and cemented in their minds and hearts).

As modeled by young Joseph Smith:

JSH 1:8 - mind called up to serious reflection

1:10 - reflected on what, who, which

JSH 1:8 - feelings were deep and often poignant

1:12 - never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this at this time to mine (promptings of the Spirit)

JSH 1:14 - retire to the woods to ask of God (prayer is a form of work)

JSH 1:20 - Joseph responds to his mother and indicates that he has learned for himself the answer to the question he had been pondering. He testified of the truth learned.

Rise, kill, and eat.

http://lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/10?lang=eng
9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

I have occasionally wondered why the Mosaic law would indicate that some animal were unclean and not to be eaten. One theory I had was that some types of animals were more prone to carrying diseases which were less likely to be destroyed by the cooking habits of the time. There may or may not be truth to that. However, since the Lord giveth no commands that are physical/temporal (Doc & Cov 29:34), there must be something more.
I do not suppose it is everything more, but at least one thing more is as a reminder to Israel of the need to be clean and pure and separate from the world.
The unclean animals represent gentile or unbelieving nations (see verses above).
The clean animals must therefore represent Israel or covenant nations.
The thought bears pondering - what else can we learn from Israel being represented by clean animals? We should only take clean things into our bodies; we should not mix or mingle or defile ourselves with the unclean. I a sure there are more, but that is enough for now.

a couple of notes

We are told to stand in Holy Places. What is in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle? The Holy Place is where the high priest prepared to enter the Holiest Place, wherein the Lord dwelt (as symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant). In the Holy Place are the veil separating the high priest from the Lord, incense which symbolized prayer (smoke ascending up to heaven), shewbread symbolizing nourishment (whosoever shall eat of the bread which I shall give him shall never hunger), and the candle/menorah symbolizing the light and truth imparted to those who seek the Lord.
We are told to stand in holy places, places where we are within the light of truth, illuminated by the Spirit; where we are fed and nourished by the good word of God; where we commune and communicate with the Lord through prayer; and where we prepare ourselves to enter the presence of the Lord.
How do you get to the Holy Place? You enter in by the door (gate? - I bet it is strait); offer sacrifice on the altar; are cleansed in the laver of water; and then you enter the Holy Place. In our lives, to stand in holy places, to approach the Lord, some sacrifice is always required, as is being washed and cleansed. Always.

Divide and Fill with Life

A speaker I heard yesterday pointed out a pattern that I would like to share.
Doctrine and Covenants 95 and Exodus 25 both give rough outlines of how the temple (tabernacle) is to be constructed.
1. The building/tent is to be constructed as directed
2. No unclean thing is to be permitted to enter (it must be cleansed should it be defiled)
3. It is to be dedicated to the Lord
4. The Lord fills it with His Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1. Our bodies are constructed, patterned after our Spirits, after the likeness of the Only Begotten of the Father.
2. We are repeatedly urged to not allow any unclean thing to enter through our minds, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, heart, skin, etc. (we must also be cleansed after defiling ourselves)
3. When baptized, we take upon us the name of Christ. We further dedicate ourselves to him through sacred covenants.
4. The Lord promises to fill us with His Spirit. Most obviously is in the words of the sacrament prayer, that His Spirit may always be with us.

This pattern of dividing/dedicating/sanctifying something to allow it to be filled with the Holy Ghost is often repeated. Moses and his sons were washed, clothed (symbolizing a new person), anointed, and sanctified (does that sound similar to baptism? more on that in a sec, if I remember) preparatory to their serving in the tabernacle where they would be acting in the name and stead of Christ.

The creation is outlined as three sets of dividing and filling with Spirit (or life, light).

First the light is divided from the dark; the waters above are divided from the waters below; and the earth (land) is divided from the water (seas). Going back around, the light is filled with life-giving light of the sun and the dark is filled with the lights of the moon and stars; the waters above are filled with fowl and the waters below are filled with fishes, etc.; the earth is filled with beasts (water already filled).

Wheat is separated from the tares and filled with Eternal Life. So are the sheep from the goats.

The Lord calls His people peculiar because they are to be separate from the world, divided from it, and then permitted to be filled with life and light.

...

Going back to baptism and the setting apart of Levites, Exodus 28, 29 outlines that the priests were to be anointed, consecrated, and sanctified. This process is outlined in 29.

Anointing is washing (with water), being clothed with the garments of the priesthood (a new man), and anointed with oil. Olive oil was used to symbolize the Spirit. Its mundane purposes were for cooking food and being burned for light. Thus it provides nourishment and light (like the Spirit) and, not coincidentally, oil sinks in through your skin very readily. So, to become a priest the sons of Levi were washed with water, became a new man, and given the Holy Ghost.

Consecrating was done by smearing the blood of the sacrificial ram on the right ear, thumb, and big toe. This is to symbolize that what we hear/think, do, and where we go will be dedicated to the Lord. This parallels nicely the law of consecration, where we promise our selves and possessions to the Lord.

Sanctification was symbolically done by the priests ingesting the meat of the burnt offering. They ate the meat (body) of the animal that was sacrificed in similitude of the Lamb of God, not unlike how we weekly ingest the body of Christ in the sacrament. While we do not believe in transubstantiation, we are promised that through the keeping of our covenants, as renewed through the sacrament, the Holy Ghost may always be with us. The temple, sacred grove, various mountain tops (Sinai and burning bush, i.e.), and our bodies are able to be sanctified, purified, made holy by the presence of a member of the Godhead. This is to be sanctified, to have the Spirit of Christ dwell within you. This is done in response to our being cleansed, divided from evil, and dedicated to the Lord in what we hear/think, do, and where we go.