Foreword

Navigating Principles with Promise

Principles with Promise serves as a ready reference book to assist you in your study of the principles, prepare talks and lessons, and contribute to your knowledge and testimony of the gospel. Principles are grouped alphabetically by key words found in each principle. While most principles are action oriented, there are many principles included in these lists that are statements of fact or simply stated eternal truths. There are several illustrations following this discussion to help you navigate this book.

• The sample page illustrates how the principles and the supporting reference verses are arranged.
• Following the sample page is an example of a principle layout with an illustration of the types of supporting references that are associated with each principle. Supporting references include the principle itself, dissertations on that topic, examples of the principle in action and other related material on the topic.

Principles with Promise also includes material the author felt might be of interest to you. Following this Foreword is a description of what it means to liken the scriptures – how you apply them to yourself, and includes suggestions on how to achieve this. Finally, as with most concordances, a Topical Index is provided at the end to help you more quickly locate principles by a key word search and page numbers. Principles are all interrelated in some way – remember the analogous rainbow described in the preceding Author’s Note.

The selection of key words for each principle was based on the topic that the principle and its references primarily addressed. You may find a principle listed under several key words because of the rich associations with multiple topics, but to save space, the principle's supporting references are only listed under one of the more dominant key words. In cases where the principle contains several key topics, you will find them repeated under the other key words listed in the parenthesis that follow the principle.  For example, a principle found under the topic of Faith may be followed by (see also Hope, Charity) indicating this principle is also found under the topics of Hope and Charity.

Key words themselves are related to other key words. For example, the key word Charity is also related topically to other words like Alms, Benevolence, Compassion, Generosity, Love, Mercy, and Welfare.   If the key word is followed instead by (see Hope, Charity) and there are no principles following that key word, it is simply redirecting you, suggesting other similar or related key words that may have principles and references listed under them.  Cataloging principles under multiple key words was one of the greatest challenges for this compilation and you are encouraged to search the related topic areas to get a more complete picture for better understanding. Having cataloged the principles under multiple topics gives you the option to pursue their information in multiple ways – both with key word topics and additional principle related topics.

Principles have been extracted directly from the scriptures in their many forms. In some cases the promises are mentioned as part of the principle itself. In other cases, the promises will be found in the supporting references. The abbreviated, concordance styled supporting references are meant to serve only as a pointer, indicating where you will find the more complete text, and you are encouraged to refer to those scriptures to learn more about the meaning and setting of the selected verses.

Another convention to save space and avoid repetition without loosing meaning is to abbreviate key words and italicize them within the supporting references. For example, the supporting references to principles under the topic of Faith, Faithful, Faithfulness will have these words abbreviated and italicized as f. in all of the supporting references. If there is a series of words that are repeated often in the references, they will be similarly abbreviated.  For example, under the key word Commandments, the phrase keep my commandments is abbreviated as k.m.c.  because the number of times the phrase is repeated in the references.

Finally, blank pages are provided at the end of the book so that you might add other principles and references you will discover in you own personal study of the scriptures, during General, Stake and Ward Conferences, and from other good books and publications that you feel are worth remembering.

Feedback

The author assumes all editorial responsibilities and apologizes beforehand for any errors in spelling, text, formatting or scripture references – they are there. Most publishers would not have taken on this project due to the enormous amount of editorial resources needed to insure its accuracy. Therefore, you are further encouraged to provide feedback regarding recommended corrections and changes for future editions. To do this, feel free to send your comments to Celestine Publishing, LLC at 9660 Falls of Neuse Rd, STE 138, #146, Raleigh, NC 27615 or by logging on to www.celestinepublishing.com or www.principleswithpromise.com.

Principles with Promise

Sample Page

Note: Key words are listed in alphabetical order and grouped according to different spellings or variations of the word. 

The following diagram represents a typical principle layout using concordance conventions, and the types of information that support the selected or primary principle. The primary principle illustrated below is “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” was extracted from Matthew 19:17.  It is used as an example to illustrate what type of information you may find related to the principle as listed in its supporting references. The supporting references will include a reiteration of the principle and examples of the principle being practiced, some amplifying facts or dissertation about the principle, testimonies or witnesses of the principle, admonitions and encouragements to live the principle, and the promises or consequences for  obedience or disobedience to the principle.    

Even though a principle may be listed under several different key words, the supporting references generally appear only once under the most appropriate key word, or the first time the principle is listed alphabetically (mostly to limit the size of this concordance). If there are no related reference verses, a particular principle may simply stand on its own merit, or the references are listed with that principle under another key word.                

Sample Principle