Blogging Through the Book of Mormon

1:1-7 - The Jaredites have left their homes and “went down into the valley which was northward, (and the name of the valley was Nimrod, being called after the mighty hunter) with their flocks which they had gathered together, male and female, of every kind.” A little bit of Noah and the ark there, they are clearly going somewhere prepped for people. They took with them snares to catch birds, and buckets of fish, which is very interesting, and “they did carry with them swarms of bees.” I could only imagine these people carrying many vessels of fish and swarms of bees with them as they left their homes, it’s really kind of an interesting thing. Unlike Lehi who was given the Liahona, “the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel.” God himself, personally led them, that’s pretty impressive. Now comes a point that I had never realized before, but that HN gives some speculation about, “and it came to pass that they...

1:33 - After that extensive genealogical history Moroni launches into the of Jared (with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people.” This has always been a really interesting concept to me because I’ve always thought, “ok well if the Lord changed up everyone’s language, then wouldn’t the families just find a nonverbal form of communication, I couldn’t imagine leaving my family just because the language was somehow randomly changed. Then I have questions about how exactly that happened, like was it over time, was it overnight, was it by family, did all those who’s language changed go into the groups of whoever else spoke the same language, like when you have a group and count off by fives, then all the ones get together, then all the twos and so on. Did everyone just get up and switch families and social circles based on who else spoke their language? And then, if so, the Lord mu...

The IM has a pretty lengthy intro to the Book of Ether, but I think that it's profitable. The IM teaches, "The Book of Mormon is not arranged in chronological order. It it were, the book of Ether would be listed first. The Jaredite record begins approximately 2200 B.C. First Nephi begins in 600 B.C. The book of Ether covers over 1,700 years of history from 2200 B.C. down to the time of Coriantumr. We don't know exactly when Coriantumr lived, but it was somewhere between 500 and 250 B.C." Spoiler alert, and since Coriantumr is cursed to be buried by the next people who inhabited the land, who knows how long he lived for. The IM continues, "The rest of the Book of Mormon from the books of 1 Nephi to Moroni covers approximately 1,000 years of history. Following the Flood in Noah's day, many descendants of those who had been spared became wicked. One group of people attempted to build a tower 'whose top may reach unto heaven.' The story of the Jaredite na...

9:28 - Verse 28 brings out a few different concepts that I think are interesting, first is the concept of the next life, “be wise in the days of your probation.” There is an implied “before and after” this life in this statement with “probation.” The next is the importance of this life, which is also an interesting concept for me because from different sources that I’ve read, the capacity for learning is largely increased in the next life, but the ability to repent is largely decreased, which seems like contrary statements to me, I don’t understand how both states of being can coexist? If repentance was really that easy in the next life, then obedience and spiritual growth wouldn’t be very important in this life, but Moroni indicates the importance of spiritual growth in this life by counseling us to “be wise.” I guess another way to look at it is that the premortal life and the next life we were and will be without our physical bodies, so this will be our first time, our first “test” ...

9:21 - Verse 21 is a really interesting concept for me, when Moroni says, “Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.” This is something that I’ve really struggled with, because I know that if I have a righteous desire and I truly believe that the Lord can deliver it to me, and I ask for it, I just feel like my answer is always “no.” I understand that he says that whatever we ask for, he will give to us, if we believe, I think it’s implied that it has to be according to His will, and I’ll ask for things, and I truly do believe that God can do anything, I’ve seen him do it many, many times, but it just seems that the answer is almost always, “no.” And I understand that, if it’s not his will for me to receive that thing, then it’s not good for me to receive it, but I get really really frustrated that the answer is a...

9:9-10 - I don’t feel like we got to do very much on personal revelation yesterday because I was so short on time, but today’s kind of continues with that theme so I hope that we can touch on it again. This most recent general conference, I felt, was heavy on the topic of personal revelation, so hopefully we can get into some of that later. Moroni’s teaching that miracles and revelations and other gifts are always present, the past and today, “For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is a shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.” We again head from Elder Tad R. Callister from an October 2011 general conference address entitled, “The Book of Mormon- a Book from God,” in which he says, “Many believe that revelation ended with the Bible even though the Bib...

9:7-8 - The more I thought about what we learned last night, the more I came to feel like, for me personally, Moroni's message wasn't so much for those "who do not believe in Christ," as it is for those "who will not believe in Christ." It might seem like the same thing, but for me there is a distinct difference and this helps me understand it better. Moroni pleads with us to "turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day." Now, we come to a topic that is absolutely incredible to me, a deal breaker for me in all religions, personal revelation. Moroni now would "speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues." For m...

9:1-6 - As far as Moroni knows, this is going to be his last departing message to the readers of the Book of Mormon, he has just ended scolding those who would make the last days so perilous and now turns to "those who do not believe in Christ." It seems to me that this is a little bit of an awkward statement, from my perspective and in these days, there are many who don't believe in Christ, and it's mainly because they don't know about him, they don't understand him or his role or his gospel, such as with many eastern religions, or conversion is prohibited, along with the learning of other religious teachings, so the opportunity not only won't come up, but can be dangerous as well. So when he addresses "those who do not believe in Christ," I immediately think of the Muslims who truly desire to do the best they can and be good people, but can't know Christ explicitly in this life because of their circumstances. Or I think of the Buddhists who...

8:8-13 - Now that all the Nephites are dead, the Lamanites “are at war one with another; and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war.” Whenever we go to war thinking that we are going to destroy the problem, that never happens, because the problem never was the people that you are trying to wipe out, the problem is always within ourselves. I’m a firm believer that “if they’ll do it with you, they’ll do it to you.” That used to be applied to cheating for me, like if a man will cheat on his wife with you, then he’ll cheat on you with someone else, but I’ve realized that it’s like that with every situation and not just bad ones. For instance, it always astounds me in the movies that drug dealers are devastated when it is their turn to be murdered, when that’s what they’ve been doing all along. But also, if you and a friend do service together, then if they’ll do service with you, then they’ll do service to you, a li...