Back to the Beginning

I love books. I know I've said it before, but I really love books. When life is overwhelming my favorite escape is the library. If I don't have 3 or more desirable reads on my shelf waiting, I get a little anxious. Even if I know I won't have time to read them, having them there just makes me feel better. I can't remember a time I didn't feel this way. It was a struggle for me to learn to read, but even when I couldn't read them, I still loved books. When I was in first grade I was placed in a "special" class with about a dozen students, all who were struggling to learn to read. I remember this child's illustrated Bible we had and looking at pictures- I was absolutely sure the stories were fascinating, much more so than the version I heard in primary, and I so wanted to read it for myself. By second grade I was reading so well, I was moved up to a top reading group. I checked out books with stories from around the world and read so much that fascinated me. I wanted more, and I was convinced by the pictures, that those stories in that illustrated Bible were among the most fascinating. I still remember the thrill of those word unfolding for me, - and that thrill dying in the face of confusion, irritation, and boredom.

"This reads nothing like the books from the library! That is all we know about those 'very important' people!? The 'good' guy did what?! You really want me to pattern my life after him?! God hardened pharaoh's heart and then destroyed his kingdom because he refused to let the Israelites go?! God told them 'thou shalt not kill' and then told them kill every living thing in a city?!"

Need I go on? Fortunately, that was not my last experience with the Old Testament. And at a pivotal point in my twenties, I became convinced of two things that absolutely changed my understanding of what this precious book is and teaches. The first realization was, as James so eloquently puts it, that I "lacked wisdom." (James 1:5) And the second was a bone deep conviction that my Heavenly Father and Savior are real, and deeply desire to teach me; and they, far more than I, understand the eternally precious nature of this mortal life; and they never, never waste a precious second of it.

This visual, which I was given several years ago as a teaching aid, seems to capture my experience.  What is happening in this picture? Is there a victim?  At first glance, the essence of what is happening seems pretty obvious. One young man is assaulting another. Imagine yourself on a jury to which this picture is presented by the "victim" as evidence of the assault. How do you find?

I've presented this picture and those questions to a variety of classes over the past 12 years, and received a variety of responses, including the possibility of mitigating circumstances, but the responses all have one thing common- the first young man is guilty of an unkind act. But take a look at the exact same picture, with more expanded perspective-

Amazing, isn't it? My daughter pointed out that if we could see the moments before- if we could talk to the participants- we might find that we still are completely wrong about what is going on. She has a point; the picture is not complete. Like my current understanding, the second picture still has finite limitations.  Rather like the Disciples of Christ during those days immediately following the crucifixion. These were men who felt they knew the scriptures, and who had followed and learned from the Savior for the past three years. Yet when the crucifixion happened, they felt lost and confused. What had happened didn't fit with the picture they had of what the Savior was supposed to do and be. The women's testimony of the Savior's resurrection was brushed off, in part, because the Saviors imprisonment and death didn't fit with their vision of "he which should have redeemed Israel." (Luke 24:21) And so, the Savior came to his beloved children on the road to Emmaus, and beginning with the first book of Moses (Genesis to us), taught them how "all things are created and made to bear record of me (Christ)." (Moses 6:63).

Nor is this and isolated incident in the scriptures. Repeatedly, both among those who are earnestly inquiring for the first time about the gospel of Christ, and among those who have faithfully been learning from the Lord for sometime, the pattern is the same. Adam, Abraham, Moses, Lehi, King Lamoni and his father, the Nephites at the time of Christ's visit, all are recorded as having gone "back to the beginning" and, like the men on the road to Emmaus, had the scriptures expounded together so they could see how they all truly testify of Christ and our Father's eternal plan. (Moses 5-6, Moses 1, Book of Abraham, 1 Nephi 6:10-21, Alma 18:34, Alma 22:13-15, 3 Nephi 26:1-3, Luke 24: 25-31, 44-45) With so many examples given in his words, the Lord is clearly illustrating that His "arms of mercy are extended" to all His children, and how very much he wants for each of us to learn of Him and receive all that He has prepared for us. (Mosiah 26:12, D&C 88:32-33)

I've had this growing feeling over the last couple of years, as I find myself time and again wandering through various passages of the Old Testament, that I could deeply profit by taking the opportunity to go back to the beginning, and figuratively walk the road to Emmaus, with a heart and mind open to receiving His teaching. No time like the present. Want to join me?