Isaiah and the Mountains

Bruce R. McConkie If our eternal salvation depends upon our ability to understand the writings of Isaiah as fully and truly as Nephi understood them and who shall say such is not the case! how shall we fare in that great day when with Nephi we shall stand before the pleasing bar of Him who said: 'Great are the words of Isaiah'?... It just may be that my salvation (and yours also!) does in fact depend upon our ability to understand the writings of Isaiah as fully and truly as Nephi understood them. For that matter, why should either Nephi or Isaiah know anything that is withheld from us?

Who was Isaiah? The name Isaiah means "The Lord is salvation" or "salvation is of Jehovah." Preached for 40 years, 740 BC to 700 BC Isaiah suffered a martyr's death, being "sawn asunder." 30 percent of the Old Testament writings of Isaiah are found in the Book of Mormon. …there are differences in more than half of the 433 verses of Isaiah quoted in the Book of Mormon

Great Isaiah Scroll- Dead Sea Scrolls

Chapter 1- The Indictment It’s a preface to the rest of the chapters Considered to have been added later Chapter 1, lists the wrongs of Israel and why they would be destroyed.

Chiasmus in Isaiah 2 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the mean man boweth not down, and the great man humbleth himself not; therefore forgive them not. O ye wicked ones, enter into the rock, and hide ye in the dust; for the fear of the Lord and his majesty shall smite thee. And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, For the day of the Lord of hosts soon cometh upon all nations; yea, upon everyone; yea, upon the proud and lofty, and upon everyone who is lifted up, and he shall be brought low. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills, and upon all the nations which are lifted up; And upon [all the ships of the sea,] and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; And the idols he shall utterly abolish. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he hath made for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days when the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it;3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;

Which mountain do we chose? Mountain of the Lord’s House Mountain of Pride How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning… For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-14)

Question: Is there such thing as “Righteous Pride”?

President Benson In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride. It is always considered as a sin. We are not speaking of a wholesome view of self-worth, which is best established by a close relationship with God. But we are speaking of pride as a universal sin.“ (Cleansing the Inner Vessel," Ensign, May 1986, p. 6.)

Question How do we present, to the world, the ideas of: We are the “Covenant People” or We have the “Only True Church!”

President Hinckley Let us never act in a spirit of arrogance or with a holier-than-thou attitude. Rather, may we show love and respect and helpfulness toward them [not of our faith]. We are greatly misunderstood, and I fear that much of it is of our own making. We can be more tolerant, more neighborly, more friendly, more of an example than we have been in the past. (A Time for New Beginnings, Ensign, May 2000)

Orson F. Whitney Perhaps the Lord needs such men on the outside of his Church, to help it along. They are among its auxiliaries, and can do more good for the cause where the Lord has placed them, than anywhere else… Hence, some are drawn into the fold and receive a testimony of Truth, while others remain unconverted…the beauties and glories of the gospel being veiled temporarily from their view, for wise purpose. The Lord will open their eyes in his own due time…God is using more than one people for the accomplishment of his great and marvelous work. The Latter Day Saints cannot do it all. It is too vast, too arduous for any one people…We have no quarrel with the Gentiles. They are our partners in a certain sense. Conference Report, April 1928

Saints in Africa