1 Nephi 11-12

1 Nephi 11
This chapter goes into greater depth of the vision of the tree of life. Which pleases me because I learned much more about it all! Nephi sees Jesus' birth, crucifixion, and the fall of any who oppose the Lord. My favorite verse:
1 Nephi 11:36 "And it came to pass that I saw and bear record that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceedingly great...Thus shall be the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve apostles of the Lamb."
* I also learned that the fruit is the LOVE of God.

1 Nephi 12
I didn't actually finish 12 so this is only part of it. But it's so interesting that I need to write it all down. I'm am very pleased to find my scriptures starting to look like they are used. I have markings all over them, explaining what verses mean and likening events to "modern day" names for the mentioned events. But that's to come...
* The river in the big gulf is the depths of Hell.
The angel showing Nephi the vision of the tree also shows Nephi the fall of his people into wickedness and the Lamanites overtake them and then there are only wicked Lamanites left. I can only imagine it would have been sad for Nephi to see his people go from being righteous to being "overcome" by the Lamanites and destroyed.
*SIDE NOTE: I am constantly confused by the term/name "gentiles". Is it Nephi's lineage? Was he an Israelite? I must research this more....
OK - I talked to my sister (not the one not doing the blog with me...), who served a mission, and I read the Bible Dictionary. Basically "gentile" in the Book of Mormon is generally referring to people without the gospel. Unless quoting from Isaiah, and then it's usually people who are NOT Israelites. It gets confusing in Nephi because technically - lineage wise - Nephi is an Israelite and therefore IS a gentile. But then after they are gone and "split up" by going to the promised land Nephi starts referring to anyone without the gospel as a gentile. It makes much more sense now. There is so much more to chapter 12 that I'm going to have to write carefully and lay it out to it's not confusing..... another post then. :)