The gospel in words: 'Remember'

Editor's note: This is a reprint of an earlier column.

"And now, O man, remember, and perish not." (Mosiah 4:30)

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the word

"remember" in the standard works. Remember is used 352 times in the

scriptures. When its variants are counted, that number jumps to more

than 550.

The root of remember is to keep in mind or to be mindful. It has the

sense of being "concerned about" and is related to the word "tradition."

The Oxford English Dictionary defines remember as "to retain in, or

recall to, the memory; to bear in mind; to recollect." Remember also

means "to think of or to recall the memory of something with some kind

of feeling or intention." Remember can also mean "to have mind of and

mention someone in prayer." Importantly, remember can mean to

commemorate or "to preserve in memory by some solemnity or celebration."

Remember is often used in connection with covenants between God and

man. After the flood, God set a "bow in the cloud" as a "token of a

covenant" to not again destroy the earth by water and "that I may

remember the everlasting covenant between me and every living creature"

on the earth.

We are to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy "as a perpetual

covenant ... between (God) and the children of Israel forever" (Exodus

31:16-17).

When Abraham entered the promised land of Canaan, he built an altar

to commemorate the Lord's appearance to him and the renewal of the

covenant the Lord made with him (Genesis 12:6-8).