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Prophets - Deuteronomy 18

Chapter 18 is also short, just 22 verses but contains a very interesting topic. The first topic Moses covers here is the Levites and reiterates that they won’t have any inheritance of land and that they are to sustain themselves (and presumably their families) through the sacrifices offered, specifically the sacrifices of the first fruits, which is the offerings of the first born animal and produce. The second and very interesting part has to do with prophets and the spiritual abilities of the people that are allowed. TB notes that at the time the Hebrews left Egypt, and really all the cultures around them, relied heavily on priestcraft as a dominant portion of their “spirituality”. TB points out that trying to decern the future has been a human focus since the dawn of time and really, it makes sense. I’m definitely guilty of this, especially right now, with the thing that happened in my family, I’ve spent the better part of a year trying to figure out why this happened, what could h...
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Kings - Deuteronomy 17

It has been a very interesting week. I’m obviously going through a very spiritually intense time right now and I have a lot of thoughts and I considered just doing a post on my spiritual thoughts of the week and maybe I will do one later, but I think the only one that I will put out right now is something that I heard that said, “everyone wants an angel to appear to them, but usually when angels show up they just recite the scriptures. So if you want angelic visitations, read the scriptures.” I thought that was pretty interesting. I’ve had some significant scriptural insights this week, among other methods but they’ve been things I’ve never heard before even though I’ve read the Book of Mormon like a hundred times. Little nuggets that I’m hearing for the first time, but I’m sure have been there the whole time. I really like chapter 17 for several reasons that we will get into. In the beginning of the chapter Moses talks about worshipping false gods. The IM comments, “Moses set the pen...
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Introduction - Deuteronomy 17

Chapter 17 is actually shorter than the last 3 chapters but there is so much more that is interesting here. The first point that is worthy of discussion is the IM’s introduction to the section on chapters 17-33. I’ve been thinking recently about what the point of this life is for so many people who seem to be “throw aways”, meaning those who’s lives seem just to tragically brutal. For instance, what about these man who, in this country, have been sentenced to life in prison for crimes that are disproportionate. For instance in the state of Florida, there are several crimes that are “punishable by life” such as armed robbery, drugs, all types of stuff and so I’ve been seeing these posts interviewing this prisoners who went to prison when they were 17 and have been in there for 25 years and are never going to be eligible for parole and I just think how absolutely tragic. So many of these men are now dedicated to God and run ministries in prison and help rehabilitate younger offenders an...
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Rejoicing - Deuteronomy 16

Chapter 16 is shorter as well, and mostly deals with the festivals that we have covered previously. One thing that I think is interesting to note is that the word that keeps coming up when describing these festivals is “rejoice”. I was talking to my daughter tonight and she said something to the effect of “I want you to have something good in your life that you live for.” I’m obviously still pretty upset about the issue that happened in my family and I guess probably just life in general, it’s always been a giant slog through. There was a very short time during 2005-2006 when I was happy and generally not super stressed out, but that’s it, that was the only time, like I said, everything else has just been soul crushing. But when my daughter said that, and reading it here now, it almost makes me wonder if, for me, if “rejoicing” and being “happy” if that’s not the ultimate demonstration of faith. That’s interesting, I’m going to have to think about that. I’m always pessimistic and prepp...
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Blessed & Highly Favored - Deuteronomy 15

Chapter 15 is short and just reviews the policy forgiving debt and freeing indentured servants. From what I remember, I thought that debts were forgiven and servants freed only every 50 years, on the year of jubilee but this chapter says that it’s every 7 years. What TB pointed out was the while previously it had been discussed that it would be every 50 years, in practice, it became a problem because every 7 years the land was supposed to rest which meant that servants or debtors couldn’t repay their debts because there was no food to be harvested from the fields. So this new 7 year rule was implemented as to not further indebt someone because they couldn’t pay back their debts during that year. They were already going to be hungry enough, compounding debt on top of that would have been catastrophic for the very poor among them. They are also to be given gifts, and this whole thing is a reminder that everything they had belonged to and came from God, so if someone had a lot, then that ...
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Tithing - Deuteronomy 14

Chapter 14 is all stuff that has been discussed previously, such as a prohibition on self-mutilation and dietary restrictions. Interestingly, I just saw a Reddit post asking, from an LDS perspective, if self-harm was a spiritual defect. All the responses, which I agree with, was that this was a mental health issue and not indicative of a spiritual problem. If I recall correctly, when this was discussed previously, TB noted that anciently the pagan worships of the people around the Israelites at this time would do extensive decorative cutting of themselves and tattooing and this was God saying not to do that, for various reasons but also to set Israel apart from the pagans surrounding them. As far as self-mutilation in these days, obviously it’s not ideal, but does that extend to piercings and tattoos? I have tattoos and I know there has been counsel from the pulpit several years ago against tattoos, I personally don’t think it’s the end of the world, I thought about getting more, but s...
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Influences - Deuteronomy 13

The main concept covered in chapter 13 is pretty standard that we’ve heard before but for some reason spoke to me a little bit more forcefully this time. The concept is that anyone who tried to lead you away from worshipping God should be put to death, even if it is your brother, son, daughter, wife, or best friend. Just saying it like that sounds a little bit weird and it’s not meant to just be like “if you think someone is a bad influence on you then kill them,” that’s obviously not it. This first part is that it doesn’t matter who it is, anyone trying to lead you away from Christ can not, under any circumstances, remain in your life. This is a hard concept because cutting family and friends out of your life is very difficult. And again, this doesn’t mean that if someone you know leaves the church then you cut them out of your life, but it’s about boundaries. In the chapter specifically it says if this person raises themselves up to be a “prophet” or “a dreamer of dreams, and giveth ...
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